HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 31-year-old man arrested by the Reno County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of sexual exploitation of a child made a first court appearance Wednesday morning.

Samuel Ross Seck, who has a prior conviction for attempted sexual exploitation of a child, apparently had numerous pictures on his phone of underage children, according to Capt. Steve Lutz with the sheriff’s office.

In a news release, officials said deputies were dispatched Tuesday around 8 a.m. to a residence in the Burrton area, but still in Reno County. Once there, deputies talked to a close friend of Seck and were told that Seck had been acting very strange with his cellular phone and seemed to be hiding something. This person knew Seck was a registered sex offender, but was not aware of the initial charges.

The friend said that Seck was observed to have several pornographic photos on his phone and had put a passcode on the phone recently. This person looked at the phone more closely and found photos of naked underage females. That’s when the decision was made to call law enforcement.

A search warrant was obtained to look into the phone and photos were discovered of naked females obviously under the age of 18.

Seck has a prior conviction for attempted sexual exploitation of a child out of Geary County from 2012.

He’s jailed on a $25,000 bond and should be back in court next week for the formal reading of charges.