COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus man previously charged with child sex crimes in Franklin County was arrested in Florida after authorities say he got off a Disney cruise and had child sexual abuse material.
Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida say 22-year-old Dakota Ferguson arrived at a Fort Lauderdale port from a Disney Magic cruise ship from Mexico on June 1.
Officers with the United States Customers and Border Protection conducted a secondary search on Ferguson and found multiple videos on his phone of young girls being raped or sexually assaulted, court documents say.
Detectives interviewed Ferguson after he was arrested. Court records say during that interview, Ferguson admitted he started viewing child sexual abuse material about three years ago.
Also during the interview, Ferguson viewed, received and distributed child sexual abuse material through Twitter, Telegram and Mega. In one instance, Ferguson sent a video to an unknown Telegram user giving the impression he raped his 14-year-old niece. He denied making the video, saying "his only intent was to give the perception of production."
Records say Ferguson has purchased videos of children between the ages of 2 and 17 being sexually abused.
Ferguson is charged with transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography. He has at least two court dates scheduled in Florida.
In 2021, Ferguson was indicted in Franklin County with two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Between July and September of that year, court records say Ferguson engaged in sexual conduct with a juvenile between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.
He has a court hearing in Franklin County on June 24.