WASHINGTON — A Rockville, Maryland, man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for sexually exploiting a minor over the internet.

Jose Adalberto Sandoval Quinonez, 26, had admitted to the charge of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. Federal prosecutors in Virginia said he persuaded a 12-year-old girl to have sex with him, among other lewd acts.

Sandoval Quinonez spent several months in 2017 chatting with the minor online after initially connecting with the girl on Instagram, prosecutors said. Then 25 at the time, he had told the young girl he was 16.

Prosecutors said he repeatedly asked her to take inappropriate and explicit pictures of herself and send them to him. He sent her inappropriate pictures of himself as well.

“Sandoval Quinonez groomed, persuaded, and enticed the minor to engage in sex acts, including sexual intercourse,” read a statement from the Justice Department.

He will serve five years of supervised release following his prison term.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Justice Department to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.