Link to Disney Cruise Passenger Arrested After Disembarking at Port Everglades Disney Cruise Passenger Arrested After Disembarking at Port Everglades
Federal agents arrested a man with child sexual abuse material on his phone as he disembarked a Disney cruise ship at Port Everglades this past weekend, according to Local 10 News.
Dakota Anthony Ferguson, 22, of Columbus, Ohio, appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Monday on charges of transportation and possession of child pornography. Authorities arrested him after a border search of his cellphone after the Disney Magic returned to port on Saturday following a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and Castaway Cay (Disney’s “private island” in the Bahamas).
Dakota Anthony Ferguson, recent arrest – Port Everglades.
Local 10 News reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials conducted a secondary examination on Ferguson and found “numerous videos of child sexual abuse material on his cellphone, the majority of which depicted prepubescent girls being raped or otherwise sexually abused.”
Federal authorities interviewed Ferguson who waived his Miranda rights and admitted he began looking at child sexual abuse material several years ago. He viewed and shared child pornography using the Telegram messaging app and Twitter social media outlet. The criminal complaint alleged that he purchased videos depicting victims as young as 2.
A copy of the complaint filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale is here.
According to Local 19 News, Ferguson’s Ohio indictment shows that he’s accused of engaging in “sexual conduct” with a victim between the ages of 13 and 15 in 2021, when he was 19. Records show he has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Ohio criminal court records obtained by the news outlet show that Ferguson was charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor after being arrested by the Columbus Police Department. Ferguson was indicted in that case in September 2022, according to Local News 10. He was arrested in December of 2022 in Ohio on charges of multiple counts of unlawful sexual conduct of a minor.
Dakota Anthony Ferguson, December 4, 2022 arrest – Ohio.
Local 10 News has contacted Disney Cruise Line inquiring about its background check procedures for passengers.
Link to Pattern of Child Pornography Arrests Involving Disney Cruise Ships Pattern of Child Pornography Arrests Involving Disney Cruise Ships
There is currently a trend of crew members being arrested in the last five months on charges of possessing child pornography. Three Disney crew members employed on the Disney Dream have been arrested in the last five months.
Disney Dream – upper left, Alvin Gonzalez – upper right, Tirso Anthonu Neri – lower left, and Amiel Trazo – lower right.
Tirso Anthony Neri, age 44, was identified in court records as a crew member on the Disney Dream cruise ship based in Port Everglades. Neri was charged with violating 18 USC 2252(a)(i) (transportation of child pornography) and 2252(a)(4)(B) (possession of child pornography) after agents for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations found pornographic images of children as young as age nine on his cell phones.
Disney ship employee Alvin Gonzalez, age 49, was also arrested on the Disney Dream in early February of this year for possession of a video of a boy, believed to be as young as 8, and a girl, estimated to be as young as 12, having intercourse with each other. Amiel Trazo, another Disney crew member, age 28, was arrested in late February on charges of possessing numerous materials depicting graphic child sexual abuse “with children between the approximate ages of 6 and 14.”
There have been at least 10 crew members arrested in South Florida, including the three Disney crew members above, on charges of possession of child pornograhy in the last five months. This total includes four ship employees on Royal Caribbean-owned ships.
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June 6, 2024 Update:
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.