A 36-year-old man was granted conditional bail in Armidale Local Court yesterday after he was arrested by detectives on Monday afternoon.

He is accused of indecently assaulting and sending sexually explicit messages to a 13-year-old girl .

Police said the explicit messages were allegedly sent from a mobile phone and through a social media website between last Tuesday and Sunday.

It is further alleged that during the past two weeks, the man met up with the child on four occasions and indecently assaulted her.

These incidents took place at the child's home in Ebor and at the home of a relative of the child in Guyra.

The young girl's mother discovered the messages, and contacted police who launched an investigation into the matter.

Detectives subsequently executed a search warrant at the man's Guyra home and seized a mobile phone and laptop computer.

The man was arrested and charged with four counts of indecently assaulting a person under 16 years of age, and one count of grooming a child under 14 years of age for unlawful sexual activity.

He was initially refused bail by police but granted conditional bail at an appearance in Armidale Local Court yesterday.

He'll reappear in court on February 8.

New England duty officer Rod Shoesmith yesterday issued a warning to parents to remain vigilant about who their children were talking to.

"In this current day of technology and communication parents need to be vigilant and intrusive into how their children are using it," he said.

"As you can see in this type of incident, computers and media and all this technology can be quite harmful.

"Unfortunately there are people out there who are intent on using modern day technology for heinous crimes against young persons."