San Juan, July 15 (IANS/EFE) A Puerto Rican man has been arrested on charges of acting as a pimp for teenage girls, authorities said.

Rommel Cintron Pons, alias "Peluquin", was arrested when he was preparing to transport five girls, three of them under 15, to a residence where several male customers had made appointments intending to pay $1,500 for the sexual services of each girl.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Ivan Ortiz said Thursday in a communique that Cintron Pons paid $100 to each girl, and he did not rule out new arrests of members of a possible prostitution and child pornography network on the island. In addition, he said that authorities would investigate the girls' parents.

Cintron Pons, according to ICE, ran his business out of a restaurant in downtown San Juan and made his services known using Internet advertisements.

If found guilty, Cintron Pons could face a minimum of 10 years in prison.