Disney scam artist arrested

[huey578]

Scam artist who ripped off Disney guests is caught
Following a traffic stop, Brevard County officers arrested a suspect in the case of scamming Walt Disney World hotel guests. A former Disney cast member, 23-year-old Jason MacLaren, is accused bilking 45 Walt Disney World guests out of $30,000.

MacLaren would reportedly hang out at Disney hotels and profile resort guests, identifying the makeup of the party and their room number. He would then call their hotel rooms from house phones—posing as a cast member, mentioning the makeup of their party and offering them upgraded dining or show tickets. He would ask for their credit card information to secure the reservations. MacLaren would then use their credit card information to purchase attraction and other tickets, then turn around and sell them to other tourists, occasionally keeping the tickets to use them himself.

MacLaren was reportedly caught doing the same thing two years ago, but then disappeared. When the scam started again, police immediately began looking for MacLaren, who was caught on surveillance video calling guests from house phones at six different Disney resorts.

Following his arrest in Brevard County, MacLaren was cooperating with authorities. Disney has reimbursed guests who were scammed and posted warnings in the rooms for the guests not to give out their credit card numbers.

 

[DisneyFed]

Book him Danno...

 

[florep1]

Yay!

 

[cjstarr]

Serves him right, he should be made to pay triple the damages to those people that he rip off along with community service and jail time.
Can you tell that I don’t like a thief!!!

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Here's the article along with a 'mug shot'.

http://www.wftv.com/news/15668084/detail.html

I'm so glad this guy got caught and the judge makes a real example out of him.

 

[RllngRckBrw]

What a slimeball, I am glad he has been stoped.

 

[mom2girlsn1boy]

that's great news

 

[fla4fun]

I had a feeling that the scammer was using house phones. I'm glad they got him. I hope Disney still leaves the notices in the room though. It never hurts to have a reminder to be discreet with your information.

 

[disneygal2007]

Thank goodness for that.

 

[klparrish]

Way to go Disney!

 

[eliza61]

Now we should all be allowed to come up with a suitable punishment.

 

[mickaholic4077]

That's great that he was caught!!!

 

[dpuck1998]

He should be put in Its a small world and nailed to floor for a week.

 

[JeffZ]

throw him behind bars @Pirates --- with the other three guys with the dog bone

 

[Princess Minnie5]

I'm so glad he was caught. Those poor guests...

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) He should get 4-8 years in prison for scamming.
2) Accompanied by 2-4 years of "iasw" continuously playing in his cell.

 

[HonnyDipp]

This is great, great news! I love it when karma works!!! What goes up, always comes crashing back down!!!!!

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

He should be put in Its a small world and nailed to floor for a week.

 

[lborne]

I was thinking they should put him in a character costume, something hot, like Pooh, and throw him to the children - in July - without breaks.

 

[JasonMac]

Well, this was fun to stumble upon. My name is Jason MacLaren. Yes, I did these things. Yes I admitted to them when I was caught. Here is the rest of this story.... My family had kicked me out and disowned me at 17 years old after coming out of the closet. I came to Orlando from Cleveland Ohio. Hoping to make things work. I ended up homeless for 5 years. I was sleeping under overpasses and in stairwells of office buildings in Downtown Orlando. I was also sleeping with tons of different people just so I could sleep in a bed every now and then instead of a stairwell or an overpass. I couldn't do it anymore and for one reason or another, I came up with this stupid plan. I can't explain the frame of mind that I was in at that point (No drugs involved). I had been drugged and raped multiple times by the point that I started doing these things. I would sell the tickets for 50 dollars a piece so I could get rid of them quickly, then I would use that money to go get a hotel room for a few nights so I could have a bed to sleep in without having to sleep with a random guy. There is no way to accurately describe the type of head space I was in or the things I was dealing with while living on the streets. This was over a decade ago at this point and I've busted my *** to get my life right since being out of prison and I have fortunately been able to succeed at that. I grew up coming to Walt Disney World every summer of my life and I live with the guilt every day of my life that I messed up peoples family vacations. Some that save for years to even be able to make them happen. I am fully aware of that. I hate that I did these things, but at that time and in the situation I was in, being able to get off the streets, even for a minute, may have actually been what saved my life in the end.