Columbus man arrested on Disney cruise for possession of child sexual abuse material, authorities say

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Columbus man previously accused of child sex crimes in Franklin County was arrested in Florida after authorities said he returned from a Disney cruise carrying child sex abuse materials.

Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida say 22-year-old Dakota Ferguson arrived at the port of Fort Lauderdale on June 1 from a Disney Magic cruise ship from Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted a second search in Ferguson and found several videos of rape and sexual assault of young girls on his phone, court documents say.

After his arrest, Ferguson was questioned by detectives. According to court documents, during questioning, Ferguson admitted that he had started viewing child sexual abuse material approximately three years ago.

During the interview, Ferguson also viewed, received and distributed child sexual abuse material via Twitter, Telegram and Mega. In one instance, Ferguson sent an unknown Telegram user a video in which he made it appear as though he had raped his 14-year-old niece. He denied making the video and said “his sole intention was to create the impression of a production.”

According to records, Ferguson purchased videos depicting sexual abuse of children between the ages of 2 and 17.

Ferguson is charged with transporting and possessing child pornography. He has at least two court dates scheduled in Florida.

In 2021, Ferguson was charged in Franklin County with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Between July and September of that year, according to court records, Ferguson allegedly committed sexual abuse with a minor between the ages of 13 and 16.

He has a court hearing in Franklin County on June 24.

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