(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) Ex-New York City Councilman Dan Halloran was found with as many as 1,000 videos of child sex abuse on his phone while trying to switch planes at Miami International Airport, according to WPLG.
The outlet said the criminal complaint said Halloran was heading back to New York when he was stopped Saturday for a device inspection.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are allowed to search cellphone devices without probable cause or a warrant under the “border search exception.”
He was coming from Camagüey, Cuba, when customs officers went through his phone and found 35 videos in a hidden folder which contained “prepubescent” girls as the victims.
He bought the videos through the messaging app Telegram, according to the New York Post.
The complaint contained by state the disgraced former politician admitted to “knowingly” having the videos on his iPhone.
1,362 videos were found in the hidden album with authorities stating roughly “two-thirds to three-quarters” contained child sexual abuse.
He was booked into the Broward County Main Jail, but was moved to the Federal Detention Center in Miami on Tuesday, according to WPLG.
He was hit with two federal child pornography charges.
The 54-year-old was held on pretrial detention Monday with a pre-trial detention hearing scheduled for Friday.
Halloran, a Republican, served on the City Council from 2010 to 2013 before his contribution to a $2000, bribery scheme in an attempt to rig a mayoral election.
According to the DOJ, Holloran arranged for the bribery of New York City Republican leaders to allow New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, to run as a Republican candidate for New York City Mayor in 2013
He previously spent five years in prison after he was convicted in 2014 and served five years before he was released early due to COVID-19.
Prior to being arrested on child pornography charges, Halloran was working as a scuba instructor in New York.
