Dan Halloran, a former New York City councilman with a prior federal prison sentence for bribery, was arrested at Miami International Airport on child pornography charges. According to NBC Miami, the 54-year-old, who served on the council from 2009 to 2013, was changing planes on his way back from a trip to Cuba when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained him.
The search, conducted under the "border search exception" which allows officers to examine electronics at ports of entry without a warrant, revealed 1,362 videos in the hidden folder. A criminal complaint notes that nearly two-thirds to three-quarters of these videos portrayed child pornography. Halloran reportedly admitted to knowingly having the material and indicated through text evidence on Telegram that he had purchased the content. According to Local 10 News, Halloran, now a dive instructor, was previously convicted in 2014 for his role in an election-rigging scandal and served five years of a 10-year term, being released amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniel James Halloran, whose past includes a stint as a Queens Republican in local politics, was booked into Broward County jail before being moved to federal detention in Miami. His arraignment is scheduled for April 14, and he faces federal charges for possession and transportation of child pornography. As reported by NBC Miami, records indicate that Halloran had arrived from Cuba on his way to New York when he was apprehended.
Halloran's history of legal woes, capped by these recent charges, has him once again under federal custody, re-assigned the inmate register number 68384-054. The case is being prosecuted in Miami federal court with a pre-trial detention hearing set for April 4, as outlined by Local 10 News.
