A Plantation man is facing federal charges after authorities said child pornography was found on his phone when he returned from a cruise.
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Steve Lee Lawson, 45, is facing charges of possession of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors and transportation of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors, a criminal complaint said.
According to he complaint, Homeland Security Investigations began investigating Lawson after he arrived at PortMiami on July 24 on the Norwegian Getaway that was coming from the Bahamas.
Lawson underwent a secondary inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and an officer found 14 videos depicting child sexual abuse material in the Telegram app on the phone, the complaint said.
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One video was over an hour and contained a compilation that showed over 100 underage girls performing sex acts, the complaint said.
The app showed Lawson had received the videos on July 23 while the ship was docked in the Bahamas, and Lawson admitted to purchasing the materials from an unknown person through Telegram while he was on the cruise.
Lawson told authorities he paid for the materials with cryptocurrency and was “enticed to do so after he observed female minors in bikinis on the cruise,” the complaint said.
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Records showed Lawson was booked into a federal detention center in Miami.
NBC6 has reached out to his attorney and was waiting to hear back.