CRANBERRY TWP — A Beaver County man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly tried to meet an underage girl for sex, authorities said.

Andrew E. Mine, 29, of Baden was arrested near an ice cream shop at Routes 228 and 19, where he believed he was going to meet the 13-year-old girl, according to investigators with the state Attorney General's Office.

The defendant arranged the meeting after nearly three dozen online chats with an undercover investigator posing as the teen, according to court documents.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Mine — a single father of a 6-year-old boy — on first-degree felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor, soliciting a minor for sex and criminal use of a communication facility.

He is being held in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail.

Mine's arrest followed an undercover investigation conducted by the attorney general's Child Predator Unit that began in March.

Special Agent David Frattare on March 25 entered an online chat room that authorities know is frequented by child predators, posing as a 13-year-old girl.

It didn't take long for Mine to greet Frattare using the screen name "i_am_justin_credible." That meeting, investigators said, was the start of a 19-week cyber relationship the two shared.

All the while, authorities said, Mine believed he was chatting with an underage girl who lived in Cranberry Township.

The defendant during that time, according to documents, initiated 34 online conversations and untold text messages. A photograph that he sent her showed him accompanied by his son.

As part of the investigation, a female agent posing as the same child called Mine at least twice. The defendant had given the girl his cell phone number, authorities said, and repeatedly urged her to call him.

Frattare said that Mine on April 14 first suggested to the girl that he wanted to touch her. On that day he asked: "you wanna fool around?... everything kissing making out."

Two weeks later, during their 10th online conversation, Mine disclosed his name. He also suggested for the first time having sex with the girl, authorities said.

Now knowing the name of the suspected predator, investigators searched police computer records and determined where he lived.

They also accessed his driver's license and were able to verify that photo with the photo the defendant had sent the girl in March.

Investigators later learned that Mine was employed as a cook for at least one restaurant in Cranberry Township.

In subsequent chats, the defendant continued to press for a meeting with the girl. The chats became more sexually explicit and graphic, according to documents.

Mine in several text messages sent in July, told the girl that he loved her, Frattare said.

The defendant and girl on Thursday arranged to meet. She told Mine she would walk to their predetermined spot — the ice cream shop.

Special Agent Dennis Dansak was nearby conducting surveillance about 3 p.m. and recognized Mine drive by the store in a Jeep Cherokee.

Investigators a short time later called Cranberry Township police, who helped arrest the defendant on Freedom Road across from the Cranberry Mall.

Mine was taken to the police station and allegedly made a confession, after being read his Miranda warnings

"The defendant admitted to engaging in these online conversations"documents said, "using a computer located at his parent's house,"where Mine also lives.