Disney employees caught

[bosstoboss]

Caught on cyber space for pedophilia. This is on Fox News.

 

[snowy76]

I saw that a while back. He worked as a character! I guess he had some incriminating pictures on his computer or something like that. It's unnerving. I mean, you can track people who have already committed that type of crime, but if someone has never been caught, Disney can run the background checks and this type of thing would not come up.

 

[trip]

This is new.

http://www.wftv.com/news/11492024/detail.html?subid=22105266&qs=1;bp=t

Disney Employees Among 28 Arrested In Sex Sting

POSTED: 7:48 am EDT April 2, 2007
UPDATED: 9:22 am EDT April 2, 2007

POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- An undercover sting operation in Polk County led to 28 arrests of people charged with soliciting sex from children online.

Of those arrested, three men told authorities they were Disney employees, according to a sheriff's office report.

"We take allegations of this nature seriously," Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said in an e-mail. "When we receive confirmation of these allegations, we will take appropriate action."

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Donna Wood said a number of agencies worked together to set up the sting at a Polk County home. The detectives set up a shop in a rented house and they filled the upstairs with computers and phones.

They acted as 13 and 14-year-old girls, entering fictitious names and profiles in chat rooms and chatted with the suspects. The reactions varied from the men who showed up to find law enforcement this waiting for them.

"Using undercover officers, the suspects chatted online with people whom they believed to be boys and girls, ages 13 and 14," Wood said.

Three men arrested in the sting told authorities they were Disney employees: Julio Segundo, 21, of Orlando; Richard Gaugh, 55, of Ormond Beach; and Thierry Ferron, 43, of Winter Garden. All three were charged with soliciting a minor via the internet and attempted lewd battery.

Ferron also was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and receiving computer statements for the purpose of sexual conduct with a child, according to the report.

Gaugh remained in jail on a $100,000 bond. Segundo and Ferron were each being held on a $60,000 bond. It was not known if any of the men had attorneys.

Copyright 2007 by WFTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[SGMCO]

How Scary!!!!

 

[tily]

I really can't imagine that news reports like the above should really surprise anyone. Individuals that would engage in that type of perverted activity will be drawn to places where there are kids. What better place than Disney! Though most of us parents would like to believe that Disney is a happy safe place, it is a place that we need to be all the more diligent in protecting our children. There is only so much that Disney corporate can do.

 

[suzimar57]

wow - scary - although it doesn't surprise my DH....

 

[darlak]

I work in the area of child welfare, so unfortunately this doesn't seem suprising to me. My family tells me that I see perverts around very corner. That's because there ARE perverts around every corner. Don't let this make you paranoid, but do be careful whereever you are. I see far too many kids walking around alone whenever I'm ar WDW or the mall for that matter. My 13 y/o isn't allowed to walk around alone or even with a friend. She isn't allowed to go to the mall with a friend unless I know that child's mother isn't going to let them walk around alone. Now that she's 13, that's becoming a problem, because most of her friend's mothers think it's okay to let the girls walk around alone. Knowing what I know, it's a hard line to find to make her careful, but not scared.

 

[Kelly1Mickey]

This story gave me goosebumps, because I was actually involved ina a similar situation.

In 1993 I was camping with my parents and 6 of my friends. At the time, we were all around 15 and 16. I think we were staying in the 1600 loop (or one of the ones in that section) and were on our way to a late night swim a little after midnight. We stopped at the rest area and saw a man with a few young girls around 11 years old that were also dressed for swimming. We thought it was a little odd that girls so young were going swimming so late, but it wasn't until we got to the bus stop that we started getting really concerned.

2 of the girls were standing in front of the posts and the man was standing behind them behind the posts. he had his arms draped over their shoulders and the girls were holding hands and looked frightened. We weren't planning on actually getting on the bus, because the pool is so close, but we decided to in order to keep an eye on what was happening. When we boarded the bus, we sat in the back. The man and all but one girl sat up front. The one girl sat near us and we asked if everything was okay. She didn't speak, but slightly shook her head no and was clearly very scared.

When we reached the bus stop for the pool, they got off, but we stayed on to alert the bus driver that something wasn't right. The bus drivers immediate response was that the man's name is David Fischer and he was an off-duty employee at the campground! He called security and they met us near the bus stop by Tri-Circle-D ranch. We again explaiend everything to security and thsi was Disney's chance to sweep it unde the rug. After all, at this point all they had was that a group of teenagers were suspicious of this man's behavior with the girls. But, instead, they called Orange County Sherriff's Department. We all filled out statements while they went to the pool and detained the man.

It turned out that he was their Girl Scout leader. Men Girl Scout leaders are never supposed to be alone with the girls, but this man's wife was back at the campsite. An investigation revealed that he had molested possibly up to 35 girls! After months of waiting to go to court, he plea-bargained and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The family of one of the girls organized a wonderful weekend for us as a thank you. We got to spend time with some of the girls and they gave us angel pins. The Orange County Sherriff's Department awarded us all Certifiactes of Appreciation and several businesses donated tickets to their attractions. The whole incident changed my life. I learned to always trust my gut and never be afraid to speak up.

And I respected Disney more than ever because the incident was all over the news and in the papers, not just at the time of the arrest, but for the Awards Ceremony also. They even treated us to all kinds of gifts and things for the camping trip. Their only mess up was we went camping there again shortly after all of this and they still had his picture by the check in desk from when he was awareded employee of the month! Needless to say, we brought it to their attention and the picture was removed.

Sorry the post is so long, but the topic struck a cord with me. And it felt so good to tell the story. I really don't talk about it much, except with the people that were there. Thanks everybody for listening!

 

[cardaway]

This doesn't surprise me. Thankfully there is little these people can do dressed up as characters and with us around. Sadly, this makes pretty clear the area isn't safe for young teens to be traveling alone.

Keep everybody in the group together!

 

[DawnCt1]

I really can't imagine that news reports like the above should really surprise anyone. Individuals that would engage in that type of perverted activity will be drawn to places where there are kids. What better place than Disney! Though most of us parents would like to believe that Disney is a happy safe place, it is a place that we need to be all the more diligent in protecting our children. There is only so much that Disney corporate can do.

Absolutely. They have had pedophile problems over the years. A company can do their best to attempt to weed them out but if there is no record, there is no record to check. I lost a child at the Poly one year when DH had to stay home. I was pushing DS#3 in a wheel chair, DS#4 thought we were boarding the monorail while we went up the elevator to the monorail. He was gone in the two minutes it took to ride the elevator! Security drove me around in a golf cart and we looked everywhere. The security officer attempted to reassure me, but I read the Orlando Sentinal. After 45 minutes I was in an absolute PANIC!! In the meantime, DS#4 was waiting patiently at the monorail boarding area at the GF, our planned destination. A CM approached him and asked if he was (fill in the name). BIG RELIEF all the way around.

 

[minnieandme]

I work in the area of child welfare, so unfortunately this doesn't seem suprising to me. My family tells me that I see perverts around very corner. That's because there ARE perverts around every corner. Don't let this make you paranoid, but do be careful whereever you are. I see far too many kids walking around alone whenever I'm ar WDW or the mall for that matter. My 13 y/o isn't allowed to walk around alone or even with a friend. She isn't allowed to go to the mall with a friend unless I know that child's mother isn't going to let them walk around alone. Now that she's 13, that's becoming a problem, because most of her friend's mothers think it's okay to let the girls walk around alone. Knowing what I know, it's a hard line to find to make her careful, but not scared.

It's so sad that we must protect our children to the point where they won't get experience being off on their own like we did as kids. People that intentionally harm kids are just sick. Just keep doing what you're doing for your DD. She may not like you for it now but she'll be forever grateful.

 

[bosstoboss]

Kelly1mickey:

Thank goodness for you and your family! That is an amazing story and I appreciate you sharing it. I hope this has brought attention to many of us to always be alert when something does not look right.

 

[Bust*A*Stitch]

This is a bump, I saw a little blurb on fox and never saw it again.

I'm glad I found this one.