A man accused of systematically victimizing teenage girls as a cult leader in east-central Minnesota has been arrested in Brazil, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed Saturday.

Victor A. Barnard, 53, is charged in Pine County, Minn., with 59 felony counts of criminal sexual assault. Authorities say he ran his own church, River Road Fellowship, at a compound near Finlayson from 2000 to 2009, sexually assaulting many girls who lived there for reasons he claimed to be religious.

Barnard was charged last year after multiple victims came forward to police. By then, he had left the state and gone into hiding.

Investigators originally believed he might be in Washington state. In November, when Barnard was named one of the Marshals Service’s 15 most-wanted fugitives, they said he may have fled the country and had ties to Spain.

“An extensive fugitive investigation” led the search to Brazil, the Marshals Service said Saturday. Barnard was taken into custody Friday night without incident with help from Brazilian law enforcement and the military.

Brazilian media outlets reported that Barnard was arrested in Rio Grande do Norte, the northeasternmost state of the South American country.

He remains in Brazil pending extradition.