Disney Cruise Line Employee Faces Child Pornography Charge

Tirso Neri, 44, was charged with possession of pornography and transportation of child pornography.

A Disney Cruise Line employee faces criminal charges on allegations he possessed child sex abuse material.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security took Tirso Neri, 44, of the Philippines, into custody at the Port Everglades port in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Monday.

He has been charged with possession of pornography and transportation of child pornography, per a federal criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.

Neri worked on the Disney Dream ship.

According to the complaint, authorities discovered sexually explicit photographs and videos of young children on two of his cellphones: a Samsung Galaxy and an Oppo smartphone.

The child sex abuse material was found in December after the ship docked in Fort Lauderdale. The cruise started in the Bahamas.

Authorities discovered on the Samsung a folder “titled with the name of an apparent victim that contained numerous sexually explicit pictures and videos of an Asian girl who appeared to be under 18 years of age,” per the complaint.

Authorities said the folder appeared to have been downloaded around August 2019.

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Neri told authorities that he belonged to several social media chat groups and had downloaded adult pornography.

However, when authorities asked Neri about folders found on the Samsung phone that allegedly contained child sex abuse images, Neri claimed “sometimes he obtains folders in the chat groups and saves them to his phone without looking at them and then deletes them after,” per the complaint.

Authorities said they conducted forensic examinations on the phones and found numerous images of child sex abuse material on Neri’s Oppo smartphone, including videos “that were saved in a folder titled ‘Private.”

It is unclear if he has entered pleas or retained an attorney.

Disney Cruise Line could not be reached for comment.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

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Read the original article on People.