A former member of the New York City Council — who left office in disgrace leading up to a federal bribery conviction — has been arrested: this time for possessing child pornography.
Agents said they caught Dan Halloran, 54, with as many as 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse material hidden on his iPhone as he was changing planes at Miami International Airport, while heading back to New York on Saturday.
Halloran was Pulled by Officers for Device Inspection After He Got Off Flight from Cuba
According to a federal criminal complaint obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers pulled Halloran, whose full name is Daniel James Halloran III, aside for a device inspection after he got off of an American Airlines flight from Camagüey, Cuba.
Customs officers are allowed to search cellphones and other electronic devices at ports of entry without probable cause or a warrant under the "border search exception."
Halloran Had Child Sexual Abuse Videos in a Hidden Folder of 'Prepubescent' Girls, Had Purchased the Content from Telegram
Authorities said they first found about 35 child sexual abuse videos in a hidden folder on his iPhone. Videos described in the complaint were those of "prepubescent" girls being victimized. They said they also discovered that Halloran, who now lives in the Long Island suburb of Floral Park, New York, was purchasing the illicit content from the messaging app Telegram.
The complaint states that Halloran admitted to "knowingly" having child sexual abuse videos on his cellphone. Authorities said he told them that about "two-thirds to three-quarters" of the 1,362 videos in his hidden album depicted child sexual abuse.
Halloran Served Prison Time After Being Convicted on Bribery Charges, His Role in an Election-Rigging Scandal
Halloran served on the council from 2010 to 2013 and made a failed run for Congress in 2012 as the Republican nominee in the state's 6th district. He is now a dive instructor and recent photos posted to his public Instagram and Facebook accounts show he was on a diving trip at the Jardines de la Reina National Park near the Cuban city.
Halloran served a federal prison sentence for bribery and conspiracy in connection with an election-rigging scandal. He was convicted in 2014, sentenced in 2015 and served five years of a 10-year federal prison term before being released halfway amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
His latest case is being prosecuted in Miami federal court. According to online records, he was ordered held on pretrial detention on Monday and is scheduled for a pre-trial detention hearing on April 4. He's set to be arraigned on April 14.
He was initially booked into the Broward County Main Jail, where he received a mugshot, but was in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Miami as of Tuesday morning on two federal child pornography charges.
