Prosecutors say Reinaldo Canton, 43, who used the screen name steel_pony_63, was arrested Wednesday at Layton Hills Mall after he showed up for an arranged meeting with the teen, who actually was an adult undercover agent.

He was charged Friday by the U.S. Attorney's Office with coercion and enticement for illegal sexual activity, which carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and could put him behind bars for up to 30 years. At an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Magistrate Paul Warner ordered Canton held pending a detention hearing on Tuesday.

Canton works at the space development and test wing of Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, according to Jillian Speake, director of public affairs at the New Mexico facility. She said the major was on temporary duty at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

Speake said no action has been taken against Canton this early in the case and stressed that he is presumed innocent.

The federal charging document alleges that Canton had a series of chats with the "girl" from mid-March until his arrest and also sent photographs of himself during these talks. He allegedly suggested meeting at the Layton mall on Wednesday and returning to his Ogden hotel to have sex.

Canton said he could be identified because he was going to buy a drink and pizza at the mall food court and likely would be wearing layered clothing, the charging document says.

According to the charging document, Canton said he went to meet the girl to see how Internet safety programs work and planned to ask the teen why she was sneaking around behind her parents' backs. He denied that he would have participated in sexual activity with her and said he would have told her that the Internet is a "scary" place.

The case was investigated by the Northern Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the FBI and Utah Adult Probation and Parole.