An Arkansas man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor.

Damien Dominic Perez, 20, of Fayetteville, Arkansas was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for an incident which took place in April 2016 in which Perez traveled to the Knoxville area to engage in a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl. In April 2016, Marion County Sheriff’s officers discovered Perez living in a wooded area near Knoxville.

Electronic messages exchanged between the two show Perez had communications with the victim for months leading up to his travel to Iowa. During these exchanges, Perez requested the victim to take and send to him photos constituting child pornography, culminating in Perez engaging in sexual intercourse with the victim. Court documents say his offense was aggravated by prior similar conduct with as many as ten other victims, including minors.

Perez was ordered to serve a life term of supervised release upon his release from prison. Perez is also required to register as a convicted sex offender. This case was investigated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office; the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; and the Regional Child Protection Center at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines.