OTTAWA -- Ontario Provincial Police say an American national, wanted in connection with a grow-op bust in eastern Ontario 19 years ago, has been arrested.

According to police, the case dates back to June 2, 2001, when OPP officers searched a home on Mooney Road in Hastings Highlands, a small community about 215 kilometers west of Ottawa. Police found more than 200 cannabis plants, growing equipment, suspected methamphetamines, a loaded gun, and nearly two dozen pit bulls.

A warrant was issued and it was later determined the individual that police were looking for was also wanted in Texas.

OPP say, for the past 19 years, they have been working with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to locate the wanted man.

In a press release issued Saturday, OPP say that on June 11, 2020 at approximately 6:30 a.m., investigators from the OPP and the CBSA arrested one person at a home on Millrand Road in the municipality of West Nipissing, about 38 kilometers west of North Bay. 

Joe Dan Bates, 64, a U.S. national, was arrested on charges of careless use of a firearm, production of a schedule 2 substance, and possession of a schedule 2 substance over three kilograms.

OPP say, once Canadian criminal proceedings are complete, the accused will be turned over to the CBSA.

The accused remains into custody and is scheduled to appear for a bail hearing by video before the Ontario Court of Justice in Belleville on June 18, 2020.