Orlando Sentinel story about "inappropriate fondling" on the Dream

[DMMarla07860]

I have to say, I'm really glad to see that only a few people who have posted are defending DCL and/or its employees and trying to twist every possible angle to make DCL not look guilty here.

"It's a witch hunt" "Blame the media" "The video doesn't show anything"

And people wonder why women are reluctant to go to the police after they've been raped.

Well the video really doesn't show much. IMO. Maybe you saw a different angle? Sure I could see it, but if the guy wasn't talking it seemed like nothing, unlike other videos where you could see more happen. Not sticking up for DCL when I say this, yeah they dropped the ball somewhat, but did the girls family call police? Them or DCL could call since they were in port

 

[Rogillio]

I'm not sure the outcome would have been any different even if Disney had stayed put and called the police.

What happened was awful, but since when does anyone to to jail for what this man did? He would have been read Miranda rights and appointed a lawyer. There would probably be no confession. And this video seems unlikely to result in a conviction without a confession. Because he is not a US citizen the odds are he would have been deported as part of any process in the US. Same result - whether or not it seems the result is fair.

Good point. They didn't want to press charges, the video proves nothing and without the child's testimony they'd never even get an indictment. Technically the state could press charges but they have no witnesses, no physical evidence and an inconclusive video. The victim is a Brazillian who could not be compelled to testify. No DA in the country would attempt to get an indictment.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I'm not sure the outcome would have been any different even if Disney had stayed put and called the police.

What happened was awful, but since when does anyone to to jail for what this man did? He would have been read Miranda rights and appointed a lawyer. There would probably be no confession. And this video seems unlikely to result in a conviction without a confession. Because he is not a US citizen the odds are he would have been deported as part of any process in the US. Same result - whether or not it seems the result is fair.

Good point, never thought if that

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

I'm not sure the outcome would have been any different even if Disney had stayed put and called the police.

What happened was awful, but since when does anyone to to jail for what this man did? He would have been read Miranda rights and appointed a lawyer. There would probably be no confession. And this video seems unlikely to result in a conviction without a confession. Because he is not a US citizen the odds are he would have been deported as part of any process in the US. Same result - whether or not it seems the result is fair.

As true as this probably is, that does not take away the culpability of DCL's agents handling this situation in the manner they did. They still should have called the authorities to report the alleged crime. No more info needed to know how this would play out at the time...a crime was reported by a victim, said crime should have been reported to the authorities.

 

[DMMarla07860]

Maybe they didn't do more since the family didn't want to press charges? Could that happen. Just thought that. Not a export so just a guess

 

[DCL Repeaters]

Maybe they didn't do more since the family didn't want to press charges? Could that happen. Just thought that. Not a export so just a guess

A crime was committed on the ship. DCL failed to notify the police of the crime. Shameful.

 

[abayaflowers]

Thank you Bluestar.

That was awful to watch. That poor girl. In just seconds. He's even looking around!!! This is disgusting! There was no reason for him to look around and enter the elevator. That lil girl probably thought he was an elevator operator, an employee. Good lord.

DMMarla, I agree, we don't need to take sides. The video is just disturbing in itself.

The security report said he "grabbed her breast, gropped her and then kissed her, mouth to mouth". How is an 11 year old going to make that up?

I read this incident on national news, The Daily News. I told my daughter not to be alone and just take the stairs.

I can't believe that I have to educate my children on the issues and taking preventive measures.

 

[Wadekind]

Good point. They didn't want to press charges, the video proves nothing and without the child's testimony they'd never even get an indictment. Technically the state could press charges but they have no witnesses, no physical evidence and an inconclusive video. The victim is a Brazillian who could not be compelled to testify. No DA in the country would attempt to get an indictment.

You are wrong. The state attorney was interviewed and said he would prosecute based on the DCL report and the video the news station had. As far as pressing charges goes, in Florida the state will move forward without you and anyone can be compelled to testify. There are non citizens in our prisons today.

You are missing the point here. The proper authorities, LOCAL police, were not informed of an accusation of a crime against a child while the ship was docked on US soil. NO one at DCL had the right to decide when or if to report it. It should have been reported to the police within minutes of it being known by DCL. DCL had no right to determine if the girls accusation had merit, that is the job of the police. DCL is an entertainment company not a police force with trained investigators who specialize in crimes against children.
There is no compelling reason for them to have not involved the police other than PR. It doesn't look good to see police getting on board before sail away and possibly delaying departure while also leading one of your employees off in handcuffs. Which is what would have happened.

 

[Rogillio]

As true as this probably is, that does not take away the culpability of DCL's agents handling this situation in the manner they did. They still should have called the authorities to report the alleged crime. No more info needed to know how this would play out at the time...a crime was reported by a victim, said crime should have been reported to the authorities.

Ships are not like other businesses. Ships have their own trained law enforcement agents and their own jail. When they are at sea, they have to deal with ALL law enforcement issues. They can conduct investigations and they can arrest people and put them in the brig. So when they are 'docked' I can see where they are not going to call 911 everytime someone files a complaint. They are trained to do investigations. And that is what they did. Had this incident happened a few hours later the ships security would have had to dealt with it.

 

[disneydreaming92701]

Sadly DCL did more than most state child service agencies would do. So many known long time abusers who continue even after multiple arrests convictions and allegations.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

The first person it was reported to should have called the local authorities as well as their own chain of command.
If DCL has a policy or a work culture in place that prevents this from happening it is for one reason only and that is to keep it in house until they have had time to do damage control.
If someone came to me to say their daughter had been molested my very first call would have been to the local police not my supervisor or in house security.
Crimes and accusations are reported to the police. PERIOD. Unless you are the police and the local prosecutor you have no authority to decide if an accusation has merit.
DCL screwed this one up. There is never an excuse to delay reporting something like this.

Exactly. Not sure why people on here are implying DcL should have been investigating before the police. So if someone runs to guest services screaming of a murder would DcL go look for a body before calling police? Um, no!

 

[PatriciaH]

I am stunned that the captain left port instead of reporting this to the local authorities immediately. How dare they keep a known pedophile on board and then pay his way back to India so he can escape prosecution?!? They have the girl's story, completely backed up by video proof that identifies the monster. They let him roam the ship for a few more hours, then drop him off in the Bahamas and pay his fare home?? So he can continue to travel the world assaulting little girls instead of sitting in a Bravard County jail where he belongs? This is truly atrocious.

This happened nearly a year ago. How many other incidents like this have they covered up? We can only assume there are more, this guy was pretty brazen to do that right in the lobby. Disney is contradicting their own ship incident reports by claiming they knew nothing until they were away from Florida and then reported it in a timely manner... absolute bs. My trust in this company is seriously shaken.

We have cruised DCL three times in the past and loved it and highly recommended it to others (note the past tense), but I am considering canceling our two rooms booked on the Fantasy this fall as well as all future trips if this is how casually they treat pedophiles.

If anyone from Disney is reading this, shame on you Disney, I really expected more of you.

I agree. I am probably going to cancel our Dream cruise and maybe our WDW trip in the fall unless they make a statement to explain themselves. And I do not even have children, but this really upset me. A lot.

 

[DMMarla07860]

A crime was committed on the ship. DCL failed to notify the police of the crime. Shameful.

Did the Family of the girl notify police? I didn't read everything fully so don't know if that was said or not.

 

[Rogillio]

Exactly. Not sure why people on here are implying DcL should have been investigating before the police. So if someone runs to guest services screaming of a murder would DcL go look for a body before calling police? Um, no!

Actually, I'm sure they would call their own security officer not dial 911. I met a security officer on the Magic one time. He was a retired FBI agent and he was packing. I don't know why people think the cops in Port Canaveral or Cocoa Beach would be better than the ship's law enforcement personnel.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Exactly. Not sure why people on here are implying DcL should have been investigating before the police. So if someone runs to guest services screaming of a murder would DcL go look for a body before calling police? Um, no!

Actually, they would.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Rogillio]

If this had been reported 3 hrs later, there would be no question that it was DCL's authority and responsibility to investigate the incident. DCL security personell investigate all kinds of incidents every day they are at sea. They are trained to do investigations and they are trained in law enforcement. This only issue is one of jurisdiction. All security issues on the ship must include the ship's security. Local law enforcement can't even get on the ship unless they go thru the ships security personell. This was not an emergency situation. Although people are talking about it like it was. This was alledged inapropiate touching and required an investigation. Had they called the cops in PC they might have shown up an hour or so later. They would have to be allowed on the ship by the ship security and they would have had to be escorted and guided by security to go view the tape and taken by security to question the child. This was an incident that requied an investigationa and that what the ships security did.

Bottom line is, if you don't trust the ship's security officers to do their job then you should not cruise because once you are at sea, there is no 911 call to get a cop.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I am going to bail out of this discussion b/c I am just shocked at the few of you with your rose colored glasses. Baffling.

 

[Rogillio]

I am going to bail out of this discussion b/c I am just shocked at the few of you with your rose colored glasses. Baffling.

I'm not sure who is actually wearing rose colored glasses. I live in the real world and presented very real world information. Facts and data. An incident occured, DCL investigated and dealt with the issue. The fact that the victim did not want to press charges is frustrating because this prevert is stil out there. But that was the fault of the victim....or rather her grandparents.

 

[Bella29]

I'm not sure the outcome would have been any different even if Disney had stayed put and called the police.

What happened was awful, but since when does anyone to to jail for what this man did? He would have been read Miranda rights and appointed a lawyer. There would probably be no confession. And this video seems unlikely to result in a conviction without a confession. Because he is not a US citizen the odds are he would have been deported as part of any process in the US. Same result - whether or not it seems the result is fair.

It is hard to predict what the final outcome would be, but the penalty in fl for his actions against a child under 12 is 25 to life. We do know that the girl's story as documented in the incident report, plus the video, are enough to warrant an investigation. We don't know what additional video there is or what the suspect would have admitted to in the US or what a proper police investigation would have turned up. Were DCL staff aware of other incidents like this? No way to know, because DCL avoided an investigation.

For those saying the family didn't want to press charges, this is really irrelevant to the discussion and doesnt negate DCL's culpability. The grandmother may not have been informed what the possible penalties were under Florida law and mistakenly assumed, as some have here, that nothing would happen. Or maybe she thought the child would have to testify in court and wanted to avoid that. We don't know what they would have decided if they had been properly informed of their rights. I am not faulting the family for anything. I applaud them for immediately bringing the issue to DCL and from that point, DCL is responsible for reporting this. It should have been up to the Bravard County police officers and prosecuting attorney to decide if they had enough evidence to prosecute.

The Dream may have their own law officers and brig, but they are subject to US laws while in port. If Disney is made aware of a crime, they have a legal and moral obligation to report it immediately. They didn't. I find that abhorrent.

 

[disneydreaming92701]

I am going to bail out of this discussion b/c I am just shocked at the few of you with your rose colored glasses. Baffling.

I'm not sure about rose colored glasses.... I sit reading court records for a guy who admits much worse on a girl the same age and his charges ALL of them were nolle prossed.... and he is far from the minority.... rose colored would be to believe that the police in port guaranteed would do better or it would gave been prosecuted. Of course it is easy for officials to say of course we would prosecute.... not defending DCL but not hanging them either.