FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Celebrity Cruises crew member appeared in Fort Lauderdale federal court Tuesday after federal agents said they found child sexual abuse material on his phone after he disembarked at Port Everglades the day prior.
According to court documents released Wednesday, agents searched the phone of Dennis Ofrancia De Leon, 44, a Filipino national, after he got off the Celebrity Reflection Monday.
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Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Katherine Leonard wrote in a criminal complaint that a “cursory search” of the device revealed “multiple videos/photographs” depicting child sexual abuse material.
Authorities described videos showing boys and girls being raped or otherwise sexually abused by men or women.
Leonard wrote that De Leon admitted to viewing child sexual abuse material, saying he began receiving it about four years ago through Facebook Messenger and looked at it about “once per month.”
He admitted to viewing content showing victims under the age of 10, the complaint states.
De Leon said he “generally deletes the child pornography he downloads onto his cellphone prior to traveling internationally, but failed to do so on this occasion,” Leonard wrote.
He was taken into custody on federal charges of transportation and possession of child pornography and was being held in the Broward Main Jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service as of Wednesday, according to jail records.
Those records state he’s also being held on an immigration hold.
A spokesperson for Celebrity Cruises told Local 10 News that De Leon was fired following his arrest.