( CNN ) -- Online acquaintances wished fair winds and following seas to Joshua Hakken as he fled to Cuba , a strange refuge for a professed fan of Ron Paul . Hakken , his wife and their two sons , 2-year-old Chase and 4-year-old Cole , were at a marina on the communist-ruled island when CNN found them aboard their small sailboat Tuesday . Florida authorities believe Hakken sailed there after abducting the two boys from the Tampa home of their grandmother , who was granted custody after Hakken 's 2012 arrest on drug charges in Louisiana . `` This all just seems like the government is yet again making real criminals out of non-violent peaceful freedom lovers , '' wrote one commenter on `` Adam Vs . The Man , '' a libertarian web forum . The family 's Cuban sojourn may be short-lived , as the government there announced Tuesday that it would hand them over to U.S. authorities . A man identifying himself as Hakken -- `` a father , a registered professional mechanical engineer and a veteran of the USAF '' -- joined the Adam Vs . The Man discussion board in February 2012 under the handle `` Sailingbull . '' `` I am absolutely devoted to life , liberty , the rights of the individual and the Constitution of the United States of America , '' he wrote . `` Mr. Ron Paul is the ONLY politician I have ever admired or supported . It is unimaginable what the forces at be are doing and want to do to him . '' Paul , the former Texas congressman , ran for president as a Republican in 2008 and 2012 and once as the Libertarian Party nominee , in 1988 . Hakken vounteered to help Paul supporters scout out campsites near last year 's Republican convention in Tampa , posting photos of site possibilities on the message board . CNN has not been able to independently confirm Hakken 's identity on site , and Adam Vs . The Man founder Adam Kokesh did not respond to requests for comment . But in a post last week , after news that Hakken was wanted in connection with the abduction , he noted , `` I feel like we 're in a position to help here . Maybe to reach out to him . Certainly seems like a stupid way to go about this , regardless of what your moral assessment is . '' Both Hakken and his wife , Sharyn , held professional engineering certificates -- hers in civil engineering , his in the mechanical and fire-protection specialties , according to state records . After high school , he attended the Air Force Academy in Colorado from June 1996 to May 1998 , academy spokesman Meade Warthen told CNN . Online , Hakken said he left because of a previously undiagnosed spinal condition ; Warthen said the academy could n't comment on the reason for his withdrawal . The couple 's legal woes began last June with what police called a `` disturbance '' at a hotel in Slidell , Louisiana , just east of New Orleans . `` When police arrived , both Mr. and Mrs. Hakken were acting in a bizarre manner that alarmed officers , '' a Slidell police statement recounts . `` They were talking about 'completing their ultimate journey ' and were traveling across the country to 'take a journey to the Armageddon . ' Let it be noted that both of their children were present in the hotel room at the time . '' Police said they found both drugs and weapons in the room and called in the state Office of Child Services , which `` determined that the children were in danger '' and took them into their custody . Hakken was charged with marijuana possession , possession of drug paraphernalia and the use of a controlled substance around minors ; `` Officers also took custody of several weapons for safe keeping . '' The Office of Child Services told CNN it would not comment on the case . The children were put into foster care with a family in Tangipahoa Parish , north of Lake Pontchartrain . Two weeks after the arrest , the foster mother called 911 and told dispatchers , `` I need a cop now . I have a guy at my house with a gun . '' `` I have two foster children , and it 's their dad ... I do n't hear banging , but I 'm not getting out 'til a cop car gets here , '' she said . Hakken left without the boys , who later were sent to live with Patricia Hauser , Sharyn Hakken 's mother , in Tampa . On April 2 , a Louisiana court terminated the couple 's parental rights , investigators say . The following day , Hillsborough County authorities say Hakken entered Hauser 's home , tied her up and took off in her Toyota Camry with the boys . Three and a half hours later , surveillance video captured their recently-purchased sailboat heading into the Gulf of Mexico . CNN 's Kim Segal and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report .
Tampa engineer Joshua Hakken is now a fugitive . The Ron Paul fan and his family await expulsion from communist Cuba . Comment: Some on a web forum he frequented cheered his escape .