Cruise Passenger Arrested After Police Find Child Porn on His Computer

A man has been arrested after getting off a cruise ship as investigators found child pornography on his computer.

Michael Harrison was taken into custody after arriving at Port Canaveral, Florida, ClickOrlando.com reported. The 51-year-old had returned to the U.S. after a four-day cruise to the Bahamas, according to the outlet.

Court records said a "routine records check" by officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection found that Harrison is a registered sex offender in Nevada, where he lives.

The revelation led to investigators carrying out a search on his laptop, where they found he had two files that contained child pornography, according to ClickOrlando.com.

Harrison was then arrested by federal agents and booked into jail on charges of transporting child pornography, according to the website. He appeared in front of a federal magistrate in court on Monday and then again the following day for a bond hearing.

His public defender's request for bond for Harrison was denied, ClickOrlando.com reported. "No condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community," the judge wrote in his opinion denying the request, according to the website.

If found guilty of transporting child pornography, he will face a mandatory five-year prison term.

Online records posted on Nevada's Sex Offender Public Website show Harrison was convicted in California 10 years ago for committing a lewd act on a child in Roseville, California. He served time in Soledad State Prison in Soledad, California, after his conviction in June 2009, according to the website.

The National Sex Offender Public Website, which is coordinated by the Department of Justice, allows anyone to search for the latest information on the identity and location of known sex offenders in all 50 states, Washington D.C. as well as Puerto Rico, Guam and numerous tribes across the country.

Although sex offenders are not banned from traveling abroad under U.S. law, they face some restrictions. Under International Megan's Law, which went into effect in 2017, registered child sex offenders must have a permanent stamp placed in their passports.

The stamp is printed inside the back cover of the passport and reads: "The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212b(c)(l)."

As a result of the stamp, immigration authorities in other countries can decide if they want to let the sex offender into their country or not.

It was not immediately clear if Harrison entered a foreign country while on his cruise or which cruise ship he traveled on. Newsweek has contacted Homeland Security Investigations for further comment.