OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) -- An Opelousas man was arrested and charged with crimes involving inappropriate behavior with a juvenile under the age of 16, authorities said.

Maxie J. Zachary, 42, of Opelousas was arrested on Aug. 3 and charged with carnal knowledge of a juvenile, indecent behavior with a juvenile, pornography involving juveniles and oral sexual battery.

According to St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz, deputies responded to an incident in which a juvenile under 16 years of age was disciplined by her legal guardian and her phone was taken away as punishment. 

"When the guardian recovered deleted photos and messages, she observed inappropriate text messages and explicit photos between the juvenile and a phone number that she recognized as belonging to Maxie Zachary,” Guidroz said.

Authorities said Zachary was an acquaintance of the family and had been in an inappropriate sexual relationship with the juvenile beginning in January. A search warrant was obtained to search the juvenile’s cellular device, Guidroz said. Upon reviewing the contents of the phone, it was confirmed that Zachary was engaging in inappropriate conversations with the juvenile and explicit photographs of the juvenile were retained as evidence. Text messages also confirmed that Zachary and the juvenile were in a sexual relationship, authorities said.

Bond details on Zachary have not been released.