BATON ROUGE - The attorney general says an Abita Springs man has been charged with 150 counts of possession of child pornography.

35-year-old Ryan Essaied was arrested Wednesday.

Investigators with the Attorney General's Cyber Crime Unit opened the investigation on Essaied after they received a lead from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The arrest came as a results of a joint investigation involving the AG's Cyber Crime Unit, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office Street Crimes Unit and Homeland Security Investigations.

Essaied was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail. If he is convicted, he faces up to 20 years behind bars for each count of pornography involving juveniles.