Crew Memeber Accused of Molestation

[wdwstateofmind]

Surprised no one has posted this yet, unless I'm missing it. However the story is fairly new...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/justice/disney-cruise-molestation-accusation/

Disney Cruise Lines crew member accused of molesting 13-year-old
By Steve Almasy, CNN
updated 8:48 PM EDT, Thu April 10, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Man worked on a Disney Cruise Line ship
• Alleged victim is 13, didn't know the suspect
• Ahmed Sofyan was taken to a jail in Brevard County, Florida

(CNN) -- A 36-year-old crew member on a Disney Cruise Line ship was arrested in a Florida port on Thursday on suspicion of molestation and false imprisonment, officials said.

Disney said it notified police about an incident that was alleged to have occurred Thursday morning while the ship was at Port Canaveral.

Canaveral Port Authority Police said Ahmed Sofyan faces two charges of lewd or lascivious molestation and one charge of false imprisonment.

The alleged victim is 13 years old and doesn't know the suspect, police said.

Disney said the man was fired.

"We have no tolerance whatsoever for the behavior alleged in this incident," said Karl Holz, president of Disney Cruise Line.

It was unclear if Sofyan, who police say is from Indonesia, has a lawyer. He was taken to the Brevard County jail.

 

[BigTxEars]

Too bad the ship was not out at sea...simple punishment comes to mind if he was guilty.

With as many nations represented on the DCL ships I can only imagine the legal red tape that might be involved in different legal issues. At dinner one night they did a parade of the crew members with their national flags, I want to say there were 36 different flags at ours.

We had a waiter from Italy (Giuseppe) and asst server from Hungry (Em). they were awesome with a capital A.

Florida does not mess around legally, if guilty this guy will get slammed into a cell for a long time.

 

[wdwstateofmind]

Florida does not mess around legally, if guilty this guy will get slammed into a cell for a long time.

Except if you're a semi-attractive baby killer that likes to grieve at clubs and bars...then my state thinks murder is okay...

 

[BigTxEars]

Except if you're a semi-attractive baby killer that likes to grieve at clubs and bars...then my state thinks murder is okay...

I have no ideal what you are talking about but it sounds like one got away. Happens here in Texas as well but overall we take care of business. We put one down this week, a nice triple killer ( one of who was 3 years old) will never kill again.

Hopefully this guy you are talking about gets his in the end.

 

[Ariel484]

I have no ideal what you are talking about but it sounds like one got away. Happens here in Texas as well but overall we take care of business. We put one down this week, a nice triple killer ( one of who was 3 years old) will never kill again.

Hopefully this guy you are talking about gets his in the end.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/crime-law-justice/crime/casey-anthony-PECLB004341.topic

 

[BigTxEars]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/crime-law-justice/crime/casey-anthony-PECLB004341.topic

Got ya now, I have heard about that. I just did not connect the two in my mind. Yep she needs some harsh time at least IMO.

When I clicked the link I saw a story of some house with $1 million in pot in it the police just raided...holy crap that is a lot of dope!

 

[Tom]

Too bad the ship was not out at sea...simple punishment comes to mind if he was guilty.

With as many nations represented on the DCL ships I can only imagine the legal red tape that might be involved in different legal issues. At dinner one night they did a parade of the crew members with their national flags, I want to say there were 36 different flags at ours.

We had a waiter from Italy (Giuseppe) and asst server from Hungry (Em). they were awesome with a capital A.

Florida does not mess around legally, if guilty this guy will get slammed into a cell for a long time.

Since it sounds like the crime was committed in the US (it says Port Canaveral), I don't think his country of residence matters too much. He is now a criminal in the US, and will be tried here. Where they send him to serve his punishment is another matter, but I agree with you that the bottom of the sea would be fitting.

 

[BigTxEars]

Since it sounds like the crime was committed in the US (it says Port Canaveral), I don't think his country of residence matters too much. He is now a criminal in the US, and will be tried here. Where they send him to serve his punishment is another matter, but I agree with you that the bottom of the sea would be fitting.

Good point about it being in port. Although if he was to goto a prison in Indonesia that might be good too, I would imagine those are just brutal, much worse than ours anyways.

 

[Cesar R M]

speaking of molestation, isnt this the second time something like this happened?
I remember the other was flown to his homecountry because the grandmother refused to press charges (what a dumb woman)

 

[wdwstateofmind]

speaking of molestation, isnt this the second time something like this happened?
I remember the other was flown to his homecountry because the grandmother refused to press charges (what a dumb woman)

Yup...with that incident they have video of the cast member walking onto an elevator and starting a convo with the girl...apparently after the doors close he takes a few liberties with her and pretty much gets away with it with the help of DCL themselves...

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/di...olestation-of-11yearold-girl-in-port/20227248

 

[Cesar R M]

Yup...with that incident they have video of the cast member walking onto an elevator and starting a convo with the girl...apparently after the doors close he takes a few liberties with her and pretty much gets away with it with the help of DCL themselves...

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/di...olestation-of-11yearold-girl-in-port/20227248

how is it DCL's fault that the mother refuse to press charges?
he was terminated by DCL's terms (and flown back to his home)

(edit) I did just read the report you linked.

First time I read that they failed to report the crime and then lied on it. (I had read other newspapers on the incident and noone mentions the "delay" or the DCL lies about not reporting on time or having "knowledge" of the crime). Only that the grandmother refused to press charges.

I hope whoever was in charge of security on the ship was fired.

 

[wdwstateofmind]

how is it DCL's fault that the mother refuse to press charges?
he was terminated by DCL's terms (and flown back to his home)

(edit) I did just read the report you linked.

First time I read that they failed to report the crime and then lied on it. (I had read other newspapers on the incident and noone mentions the "delay" or the DCL lies about not reporting on time or having "knowledge" of the crime). Only that the grandmother refused to press charges.

I hope whoever was in charge of security on the ship was fired.

Yea, somehow Disney got the media to report the news they wanted everyone to hear and not the part about them helping dude get back to Indonesia...pretty much only a few news sources here and there in FLA were reporting the actual story.

 

[Cesar R M]

Yea, somehow Disney got the media to report the news they wanted everyone to hear and not the part about them helping dude get back to Indonesia...pretty much only a few news sources here and there in FLA were reporting the actual story.

eeh, the guy was Indian , not from indonesia.
unless you mean the current case which indeed is from indonesia but the guy is in jail.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Yea, somehow Disney got the media to report the news they wanted everyone to hear and not the part about them helping dude get back to Indonesia...pretty much only a few news sources here and there in FLA were reporting the actual story.

I believe you are referring to the old attack 2 years ago.

There was no Media issues.

1. The attack occurred just before the Dream sailed and as Security was investigating and viewing the tape. IMO
DCL was wrong not to advise police prior to sailing, there was also questions and there still are questions about who had jurisdiction, local, state or only the feds.

2. Disney advised the US, Bahamas authorities the next day.

3. Since the vessel was under Bahamas flag the Bahaman Maritime authority boarded the vessel on arrival and removed the perv and interviewed him.

4. The Grandmother refused to press charges or agree to cooperate, which I believe was to stop any additional hurt to the child with a trial.

5. The perv was fired before arrival to Nassau.

6. Since the Bahamas would not charge the perv, the DCL contract required DCL to fly him home to India.

7. Will or did he face charges in India, I doubt it, if the reports on the way the India culture and government handles sex attacks are true.

All these facts were reported by the media as soon as the story broke.

As I said, in my opinion DCL should have not sailed and released the CM to US authorities and let them figure out who had the jurisdiction.

AKK

 

[DznyGrlSD]

I can tell you 1st hand that Disney does EXTENSIVE background checks (or at least they did in 2003 when I was a castmember). It's completely horrible what happened but if he has no priors, who's to know what he was capable of doing. I hope people don't blame Disney over this.

 

[wdwstateofmind]

I believe you are referring to the old attack 2 years ago.

There was no Media issues.

1. The attack occurred just before the Dream sailed and as Security was investigating and viewing the tape. IMO
DCL was wrong not to advise police prior to sailing, there was also questions and there still are questions about who had jurisdiction, local, state or only the feds.

2. Disney advised the US, Bahamas authorities the next day.

3. Since the vessel was under Bahamas flag the Bahaman Maritime authority boarded the vessel on arrival and removed the perv and interviewed him.

4. The Grandmother refused to press charges or agree to cooperate, which I believe was to stop any additional hurt to the child with a trial.

5. The perv was fired before arrival to Nassau.

6. Since the Bahamas would not charge the perv, the DCL contract required DCL to fly him home to India.

7. Will or did he face charges in India, I doubt it, if the reports on the way the India culture and government handles sex attacks are true.

All these facts were reported by the media as soon as the story broke.

As I said, in my opinion DCL should have not sailed and released the CM to US authorities and let them figure out who had the jurisdiction.

AKK

Sources?

 

[Ralphlaw]

Through my job, I've been involved in many instances of people who have done this. It indeed can be very difficult to predict who will molest kids, but I would hazard to guess that at least 2/3rds of them are very childlike themselves. Either they are developmentally disabled with a very low IQ, or they are sexually underdeveloped. Many of the men who do this have little or no facial hair, have higher pitched voices, are shorter than normal, and display childlike mannerisms. They just never grew up themselves, but yet they have adult sexual urges.

The remaining third are just selfish perverts, classic criminals who are out to please themselves and care little for the harm they do to others. This last group, by the way, generally do not victimize younger children, but instead go after teenagers. Not always, but usually.

Of course, these are vast generalizations, and exceptions abound. One problem, of course, is that cultural issues may display either false positives or false negatives. With the thousands of employees that Disney hires, a few will slip through the cracks. I would guess, for example, that just about any employer that has been around a while, and has more than 100 employees, has probably had at least one sexual perpetrator on the payroll at some point. It's scary, but it's a fact of life that scary people are out there, and some are very good at hiding it.

 

[BigTxEars]

Trying to hold Disney acceptable for hiring him if he had no priors is insane.

After the fact, well we now have two post that do not support each other as to what occurred. I am not sure, my guess would be if Disney did not follow the law as designed it was thru the ignorance or lack of follow thru of a small group of individuals and not some company directed action. Just my .02

 

[BostonJP]

I work in the background checking industry and Disney is not doing well in that department right now! They're also dealing with a class action lawsuit for violating federal background check laws.

The problem with background checks, is that criminal records are spread out across literally tens of thousands of sources across the globe. For this CM to raise any red flags at hiring would have been predicated on him having a criminal record in the first place (ie. this not being his first offense) as well as them checking the source of that particular criminal record. Because he was Indian or Indonesian, there's no telling how reliable those record sources are - for example, a murder in another country would not likely enter the same database that the FBI uses for gun sales.

Trying to hold Disney acceptable for hiring him if he had no priors is insane.

Insane, but completely possible. Possible that Disney would rather bury the story by settling any potential lawsuits (with non-disclosure agreements preventing the family from going to the press).

 

[BigTxEars]

I work in the background checking industry and Disney is not doing well in that department right now! They're also dealing with a class action lawsuit for violating federal background check laws.

The problem with background checks, is that criminal records are spread out across literally tens of thousands of sources across the globe. For this CM to raise any red flags at hiring would have been predicated on him having a criminal record in the first place (ie. this not being his first offense) as well as them checking the source of that particular criminal record. Because he was Indian or Indonesian, there's no telling how reliable those record sources are - for example, a murder in another country would not likely enter the same database that the FBI uses for gun sales.


Insane, but completely possible. Possible that Disney would rather bury the story by settling any potential lawsuits (with non-disclosure agreements preventing the family from going to the press).

They could have who knows. I would guess we will never have the "full" story about what occurred. Either way I think it's important to understand the incredible rarity of issues like these at a Disney venue. I certainly would not say it's a indicator that DCL is a unsafe environment.

Well except for my waistline.....and liver.....those took a beating...