Atlanta man gets off cruise in Miami, gets caught with child sex abuse clips, police say

Michael Fanning (MDCR/WPLG)

MIAMI – An Atlanta man disembarked a cruise in Miami Wednesday and ended up heading to jail instead of Georgia after customs agents found child sexual abuse material on his cellphone, according to police.

An arrest report from the Miami-Dade Police Department states that officers responded to PortMiami’s Virgin Voyages cruise terminal, located at 718 N. Cruise Blvd., after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents took Michael Fanning, 47, into custody.

Recommended Videos



Police said CBP agents, conducting a search of Fanning’s phone, initially found three — and eventually a total of five — videos of child sexual abuse.

The report doesn’t state why CBP agents chose to conduct the search, though border agents are legally allowed to conduct random, warrantless searches of people entering the country.

According to the report, the videos included clips of boys as young as 8 being raped.

Agents discovered the videos in Fanning’s iPhone in a folder labeled “Y” — which he said stood for “young” — and consisted of screen recordings taken from X, the social media website formerly known as Twitter, the report states.

Officers took Fanning to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he was being held on a $25,000 bond on five child pornography charges as of Wednesday afternoon.


About the Author
Chris Gothner headshot

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

Loading...

Recommended Videos