( CNN ) -- A former Alabama assistant district attorney who specialized in prosecuting sex crimes against minors is accused of enticing what he thought was a teenage girl online for sexual purposes , authorities said . Steven Giardini was indicted on charges of enticement and solicitation crimes over the computer with the intent to produce child pornography , the Alabama Attorney General 's Office said in a statement . Giardini , a former prosecutor in Mobile County , was arrested Tuesday . The charges stem from the suspect 's alleged communication with what he thought was a 15-year-girl , Alabama Attorney General Troy King said in a statement Tuesday . But instead he was communicating with an agent from the FBI 's Internet Crimes Against Children division . The Attorney General 's Family Protection Unit presented evidence to a Mobile County , Alabama , grand jury August 13 , which handed up the indictment . `` The crimes alleged in this indictment are all the more horrifying in that the defendant was a prosecutor entrusted to protect citizens from evil and criminal wrongdoing , '' King said . `` The people of Alabama should be reassured , however , that no one is above the law , and that those who seek to harm and exploit our children will be punished , whoever they are . '' Giardini is charged with one count of acting with the intent to entice a child under the age of 16 for intercourse , sodomy or sexual purposes ; one count of acting with the intent to criminally solicit the production of child pornography ; and one count of acting with the intent to entice a child for sexual purposes by means of computer , telephone , personal digital assistant , or other electronic means of communication or information storage . All three charges are felonies . The first is punishable upon conviction by a prison sentence of one to 10 years , with the last two punishable by a two-to-20-year sentence , according to the attorney general 's office . Giardini resigned from the district attorney 's office in April 2009 after FBI agents searched his Mobile home , CNN affiliate WALA-TV reported . It is not known what they were looking for , the station reported ; the search warrant was sealed by a federal judge . Giardini 's attorney , Dennis Knizley , noted it has been 16 months since that search , WALA said . `` And of course , his life has been on hold since then , '' Knizley told the station . `` The facts of the case will turn out to be interesting and ( we will ) address those when we go to trial . '' Knizley denied that Giardini was trying to manufacture child pornography . Giardini was booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail and released on $ 250,000 bond , WALA said . CNN 's Lateef Mungin contributed to this report .
Authorities say that Giardini thought he was communicating with a little - old girl . But , they say , he was really communicating with the FBI . Note : Giardini resigned as a prosecutor after his house was searched last year .