A Port Dickinson man faces federal crimes for an alleged role as the leader of an internet-based group accused of soliciting underage girls to engage in sexual activity.

Christian Maire, 39, is being held in the custody of U.S. Marshals after appearing Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Baxter. The arrest was the culmination of a four-month investigation by members of the FBI, who followed a trail from Michigan to New York State that included victim interviews and tracking of online movements.

Court papers state the criminal activity spanned from 2013 until Monday's date, in Oakland County in Michigan and elsewhere.

Maire is charged with federal felonies: producing, attempting to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive child pornography; conspiracy with intent to view child pornography, participation in a child exploitation enterprise, along with coercion and enticement of a minor. He is scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday for a detention hearing.

The FBI said its investigation leading to Maire's arrest centered on a social media platform, referred to in court filings as "Website A," which involved participants adopting different usernames to chat with others in real time.

The site was being used by adult men to sexually exploit teenage and pre-teen girls, according to court filings by FBI Special Agent Adam Christensen.

More than 50 minor victims have been identified during the investigation, Christensen said in court documents filed Monday, and dozens more have yet to be identified. Men who participated in "Website A" pretended to be teenage boys or girls in order to entice the victims to engage in sexually explicit activity on camera. Christensen said.

On June 29, court papers say, the FBI interviewed one 17-year-old victim from Michigan who said she had been using a chatroom on "Website A" to converse with four to five people whom she believed to be teenage boys. She told the FBI those people enticed her to engage in sexual activity.

Investigators reviewed logs from Website A to determine the identities of alleged offenders — one was not named in Monday's court documents, but Maire was identified through a username "New York Target #2" — who were believed to have visited a chatroom with the victim on at least a dozen occasions.

According to Christensen, participants in the "Website A" group used terms like "hunt" in their conversations when referring to searches for underage girls. They also used minus symbols to signify how much younger than 18 the victims were.

On July 27, a federal search warrant was executed in Michigan and six arrests were made there. More than 1,000 child pornography videos were recovered, court papers say, and information was developed to propel the investigation forward.

Christensen said in court documents the username "New York Target #2" was determined to be the leader of the group and he targeted minors one-on-one, also using various social media websites as a "hunting ground."

The 17-year-old victim was 14 when she took part in an online chat with him in 2015, according to court records.

According to Christensen, investigators recently traced website logs to an IP address at Maire's residence.

On Monday, a federal search warrant was executed at Maire's residence.

"Maire voluntarily spoke with the agents and stated that he had visited Website A with the intention of viewing child pornography while on the site," Christensen said in court documents.

Maire is accused of using a variety of usernames as part of the alleged crimes. Court papers say he admitted utilizing social media and email accounts including Kik, Discord, MyLOL and Gmail.

On Twitter: @PSBABorrelli

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