MINNEAPOLIS — Authorities said the husband of a Twin Cities-based home day care provider is accused of sexually assaulting three children.

Forty-four-year-old Edgar Noe Lopez-Monter, of Roseville, is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Court documents show that police began the investigation in August after a 6-year-old asked her day care provider to tell her husband to stop kissing her.

The 6-year-old and her 9-year-old sister later told their mother that Lopez-Monter had been kissing them for years when his wife wasn’t present.

The 9-year-old also said Lopez-Monter fondled her on multiple occasions dating back to when she was 6. The girl reported that Lopez-Monter asked her not to tell anybody about the conduct and said he loved her.

Lopez-Monter declined to give a statement to investigators after he was arrested.