A federal judge released a Miami Beach man on bond Monday after authorities arrested him when a post-cruise customs search of his electronics at Port Everglades turned up images depicting naked underage boys and girls engaged in sexual activity.
When Brian Susbielles, 35, disembarked in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers conducted a border search of his iPhone and MacBook and found illicit images and videos of children engaged in sexual acts along with sexual online conversations regarding the pictures and videos, according to a criminal affidavit.
Susbielles had been sailing on Holland America Line’s Volendam for 30 days, leaving from New York.
Agents said photos on Susbielles’ electronics showed boys and girls as young as eight nude and being sexually abused. Susbielles told federal agents he receives images and videos from a Russian website and saves them to his iCloud, according to the affidavit.
When questioned why he saved the images, Susbielles said, “Because ever since I was a teenager, I have had this personal demon with me.” He added that he has never sexually abused a child.
Susbielles was the subject of a 2024 cyber tip from Yahoo to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the possession and distribution of two child sexual abuse videos, authorities said.
He now faces two federal charges related to the possession of child sexual abuse material and the transportation of child sexual abuse material. A judge agreed Monday morning to release him on a $100,000 bond.
In his online biography, Susbielles describes himself as a film critic who divides his time between Orlando and Miami.