An Ohio man has been arrested by U.S. special agents for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit material with children, including a 10-year-old girl, according to Manitoba RCMP.

Police said they were notified by the child’s family after inappropriate, sexual pictures were sent last December. The girl believed she was messaging with a teenage boy on social media, police said.

The conversations began on a popular social media platform before moving to text messages, where the accused continued grooming the girl and gaining her trust, the RCMP said at a press conference Monday.

The 32-year-old suspect was arrested on Feb. 12 after RCMP forwarded information to U.S. officials.

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“Once we know for sure that the suspect may have come from the United States, we report it to our embassy in Ottawa to speak to an investigator from Homeland Security, and they assist us with the evidence that we gathered from the victim’s devices,” Cpl. Emmie Clements with Manitoba RCMP’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit told reporters.

“We provide them with evidence and then they go on their own investigation to identify the suspect.”

Following the man’s arrest, his electronics were seized by the United States’ Homeland Security Investigations. Those devices had “evidence of communication between himself and the Manitoba girl,” according to the RCMP’s news release.

He remains in custody in the U.S., and officers believe he may have had additional victims, police said.

“This case underscores the impact of cross-border collaboration in protecting children — a commitment we share with the RCMP,” said Maggie Sigur, attaché for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations.

U.S. officials are charging the man with sexual exploitation of children, receipt of visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and possession of child pornography, according to the RCMP.

No Canadian charges have been laid, and the RCMP’s investigation is ongoing, the corporal said.

Clements said police waited to report on the details of this case and the suspect’s arrest to protect the victim’s privacy.

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