Idaho man sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for transporting child pornography onboard a cruise ship

ORLANDO, Fla. — A cruise ship passenger was sentenced Thursday to eight years in federal prison for transporting child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

According to court documents, CBP officers discovered thousands of images and videos of child pornography on a laptop belonging to Gary Lee Reed, 47, of Blackfoot, Idaho, during a secondary inspection of his luggage. At the time of the inspection, Reed was returning to Port Canaveral onboard a cruise ship that had recently sailed to the Bahamas.

Reed pleaded guilty to the charge Feb. 28.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.