A crew member aboard the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship was arrested in Boston last week on federal child pornography charges, according to court records. Bobby Prieto, a 35-year-old Filipino national, was taken into custody on September 24 after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered more than 1,200 images and videos of child sexual abuse material on two phones in his possession when the ship docked at Boston’s cruise terminal.

Prieto made his initial court appearance last Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston on a charge of transporting child pornography. He did not enter a plea and was ordered held pending a detention hearing scheduled for October 1.

Authorities indicated in legal filings that Prieto was flagged for secondary screening when the Norwegian Jewel arrived in Boston. While the government has not disclosed the reasons for the enhanced inspection, a search of his devices uncovered a large amount of illicit material, including a video depicting a man raping a girl estimated to be between five and eight years old. Prieto admitted to being the adult male in the video and identified the child, according to a Homeland Security investigator’s affidavit.

The affidavit also detailed that Prieto confessed to having received child pornography through WhatsApp messages from unknown senders, stating the images automatically saved to his devices after he opened them. Throughout questioning, Prieto primarily responded in English, with occasional assistance from an interpreter, after waiving his Miranda rights.

Records also noted that Prieto had been the subject of approximately 75 CyberTipline reports submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children prior to his arrest. It remains unclear whether law enforcement previously investigated these reports.

Prieto currently works as a crew member on the Norwegian Jewel, a vessel operated by Norwegian Cruise Line with a passenger capacity exceeding 2,300. Requests for comment from the cruise line were not immediately answered.

The case remains under investigation as Prieto awaits further court proceedings.