Michael Fanning, 47, of Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States disembarked a cruise in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on August 23, 2023. That day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents took him into custody at PortMiami’s Virgin Voyages cruise terminal in Miami.
The agents conducted a search of Fanning’s iPhone and found five videos of child sexual abuse. Saved in a folder labeled “Y”, which stood for “young”, the videos consisted of screen recordings taken from Twitter and involved the rape of boys as young as 8.
Miami-Dade Police Department officers responded to PortMiami’s Virgin Voyages cruise terminal and arrested Fanning. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami.
Bond for Fanning was set at $25,000. He was charged with five counts of possession of sexual performance by a child.
Founded on December 4, 2014, Virgin Voyages headquartered in Plantation, Broward County, Florida. It is a joint venture between the Virgin Group and Bain Capital.
Operated by Virgin Voyages, Valiant Lady entered service on March 18, 2022. The cruise ship sailed a three-night cruise from Portsmouth, England to Zeebrugge, Belgium and continued sailing from Portsmouth with itineraries visiting Belgium, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands.
CONAN Daily 