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Upon disembarkation from a Disney cruise at Port Everglades this past weekend, a male individual was apprehended by federal agents for possessing illicit material involving minors on his smartphone, as reported by Local 10 News.
22-year-old Dakota Anthony Ferguson, hailing from Columbus, Ohio, made a court appearance in Fort Lauderdale on Monday facing charges of the transportation and possession of child pornography. Authorities took him into custody after scanning his cellphone at the border once the Disney Magic returned to port on Saturday following a voyage to Cozumel, Mexico and Castaway Cay (Disney’s “private island” in the Bahamas).
Spotlight on Dakota Anthony Ferguson’s recent arrest at Port Everglades.
As documented by Local 10 News, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials conducted a supplemental examination of Ferguson and discovered a multitude of videos featuring minors being sexually exploited on his phone, predominantly showing underage girls enduring sexual assault or abuse.
Ferguson was questioned by federal authorities and voluntarily relinquished his Miranda rights, confessing to engaging in the consumption of child sexual exploitation material several years prior. He confessed to watching and circulating child pornography through the Telegram messaging app and Twitter social network. The official complaint stated that he had acquired videos portraying victims as young as 2.
A detailed complaint lodged in federal court in Fort Lauderdale can be accessed here.
According to Local 19 News, Ferguson is facing allegations in Ohio of participating in “sexual conduct” with an individual aged between 13 and 15 in 2021, when he was 19. Court records indicate that he has pleaded not guilty in that instance.
Public records from Ohio’s criminal court system, as cited by the news source, indicate that Ferguson was charged with illegal sexual activity involving a minor subsequent to an arrest carried out by the Columbus Police Department. Ferguson was indicted in September 2022 in connection to that incident, according to Local News 10. He was apprehended in Ohio in December 2022 on charges of multiple counts of unlawful sexual conduct involving a minor.
Snapshot from Dakota Anthony Ferguson’s arrest on December 4, 2022, in Ohio.
Efforts to reach Disney Cruise Line by Local 10 News to inquire about their passenger screening policies remain ongoing.
Recent months have seen a surge in crew members being apprehended on allegations of possessing child exploitation material. Over the past five months, three Disney crew members serving on the Disney Dream vessel have been arrested.
Disney Dream – in the top left corner, Alvin Gonzalez – in the top right corner, Tirso Anthonu Neri – in the bottom left corner, and Amiel Trazo – in the bottom right corner.
Identified in legal documents as a crew member aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship docked in Port Everglades, Tirso Anthony Neri, aged 44, faced charges for breaching 18 USC 2252(a)(i) (conveying child pornography) and 2252(a)(4)(B) (holding child pornography) after officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations discovered illicit images of children as young as nine on his mobile devices.
Alvin Gonzalez, a staff member on the Disney Dream, aged 49, got apprehended in early February of this year for being in possession of a video depicting a boy, possibly as young as 8, and a girl, potentially as young as 12, engaging in sexual intercourse. Another Disney crew member, Amiel Trazo, aged 28, faced arrest in late February on counts of possessing multiple pieces of content showing explicit child sexual exploitation “involving children aged between 6 and 14.”
South Florida experienced the arrest of not less than 10 crew members, including the aforementioned three Disney staff, on child pornography charges within the past five months. This count encompasses four ship employees on vessels owned by Royal Caribbean.
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Update as of June 6, 2024:
Image Credit: Disney Magic CC 2.0 commons / wikimedia, Disney Dream – ajmexico CC BY 2.0 commons / wikimedia; TIRSO ANTHONY NERI – tricountybests, Dakota Anthony Ferguson – Local News 10 and Mugshot Zone.
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