NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – A man who was acquitted of raping a Massachusetts teen several years ago has been charged with trying to seduce underage girls through an instant messaging service, a prosecutor said.

Norman Laliberte, 32, of Hooksett, was arrested Friday in Manchester and Saturday in Nashua as a result of unrelated online investigations by both police departments, First Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Roger Chadwick said. Both investigations involved detectives posing online as underage girls, Chadwick said.

“He was online and working on two or more, what he thought were underage kids at the same time. Fortunately, they turned out to be undercover police officers,” Chadwick said.

Laliberte faces two felony counts of using computer services to solicit sex with a minor in Nashua, and at least one similar charge in Manchester, Chadwick said.

Laliberte was jailed after his arraignments Monday; he was unable to post bail.

The charges carry a maximum of three to seven years in prison.

Police said Laliberte’s messages to the Nashua detective on Thursday and Friday included blunt and vulgar solicitations to engage in sexual intercourse, according to the charges filed in Nashua District Court.

“The crime itself occurs when those words are entered and sent in some sort of message to the child, or person that someone believes to be a child. A meeting is not necessary,” Chadwick said.

In 2003, Laliberte was charged with raping a teen whom he had met while working as a counselor at a psychiatric treatment center in North Chelmsford, Mass., where the girl was a patient.

The girl later left a foster home to live with Laliberte in Nashua, where the assault allegedly took place.

A jury acquitted Laliberte on a charge of aggravated felonious sexual assault in 2005.