A 44-year-old man was arrested on October 30 after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers found AI images of underage girls on his phone, according to local 10 news. The man, Justin Lee Cox, now faces charges related to the possession and transportation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
CBP officers selected Cox for a secondary inspection after he disembarked from his cruise ship, likely the Caribbean Princess (explained below). During the inspection, authorities found eight videos and 54 images of CSAM on Cox’s computer and phone.
The material included an AI-generated video of a teenager being raped and two apparently real images of “pre-teen” girls.
Cox confessed to creating the illicit videos by using AI software and photos of real girls. He initially stated he had no images or videos of minors on his device but later stated if he did “it was with their parents’ permission.”
Court documents identified the cruise ship as “the Carnival Princess” which does not exist. Four ships arrived at Port Everglades on October 30, including Caribbean Princess, Celebrity Silhouette, Nieuw Amsterdam, and Disney Dream. The ship reportedly sailed in from the Bahamas which matches the itinerary of the Caribbean Princess.
Carnival Corporation owns Princess Cruises which could explain the misspelling of the Caribbean Princess to “the Carnival Princess”. The Disney Dream also sailed in from the Bahamas but has no name match.
As of Wednesday, November 4, Cox was being held in the Broward Main Jail. A federal judge ordered Cox to remain in custody pending trial. His next hearing is scheduled for Monday, November 9.
Arrests for CSAM are relatively common in cruise ports. Two weeks ago 41-year-old John Mario Galvin was similarly arrested in Port Everglades for the possession of CSAM which included images and videos of infants and toddlers.
Despite the vile nature of these crimes, they are not accounted for in any capacity in the cruise crime data published quarterly by the Department of Transportation. Cruise lines are only required to report a narrow set of crimes which does not include the possession of CSAM or other serious offenses such as video voyeurism or drug smuggling.