GEORGIA, United States (AP) — A missing kayaker who was the focus of a two-day air and sea search off the Georgia coast staged his disappearance to escape prosecution on charges that he sought sex with a child, authorities said Wednesday.

Cody Magee, 38, of Savannah was being held Wednesday in Oklahoma City on an arrest warrant issued roughly 1,000 miles away after he missed a Monday court hearing in Georgia, said Savannah-Chatham County police spokesman Sonny Cohrs. His wife filed a missing person report after he disappeared Sunday night, Cohrs said.

“He was supposedly going kayaking and was supposed to be gone for an hour,” Cohrs said. “He never came back.”

The Coast Guard launched a two-day search for Magee around Tybee Island, a beach community 18 miles east of Savannah, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Soto. Crews covered more than 2,500 square miles before the search was called off Tuesday night, Soto said.

A few hours before midnight Tuesday, a police officer in Oklahoma City pulled Magee over after a routine license plate check showed he had been reported missing, said Oklahoma City police Sgt Gary Knight. Police found a handgun and rifle in his car, Knight said.

Magee talked with the officer and was taken to a hospital, Knight said, though he declined to say why. Savannah police said in a news release that Magee was “considered a danger to himself.”

Georgia authorities were working to extradite Magee, who faces charges of child pornography and attempted child molestation in Effingham County west of Savannah.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Magee last June after undercover investigators posing online as a young teenager lured him to a home, said Sgt Don White of the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office.

“He was chatting with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl,” White said. “He wanted to act out some rape fantasies with her.”

Magee shared images of child pornography during the online exchanges with undercover investigators, White said. During the arrest, he said, deputies found a handgun in Magee’s pocket.

Stuart Patray, identified by the public defender’s office for the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit as Magee’s lawyer, didn’t return a phone call Wednesday.

It wasn’t known Wednesday if Magee would face additional charges for faking his disappearance, Cohrs said.

The Coast Guard deployed an 87-foot cutter, two smaller boats and five aircraft to search for Magee after he was reported missing, Soto said, though he didn’t know how much the search cost. The search was suspended Tuesday night after investigators learned his disappearance was a possible hoax, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Soto said he didn’t know what tipped off investigators. But the search stopped roughly three hours before Magee was pulled over in Oklahoma.