Man Accused of Stealing Buzzy's Clothing from Disney World Arrested

[GhostlyGoofy]

This sites shows what proof the state will need

Grand Theft- Florida | Definition, Penalties, Defenses

In Florida, Grand Theft is the unlawful taking of property valued at $750 or more. Grand theft is a felony offense, with severe penalties, including prison.

www.husseinandwebber.com

If the charges are just for the HM Props there probably wont even be jail time, just some hefty fines, probation.

However if more charges get added for other props sold and buzzy really is worth 120k...

 

[glawio]

For some reason, deep in my heart of hearts, I don't think BDD took Buzzy. Just an gut thing I guess. I really feel it was somebody else. I think BDD probably KNOWS the person/people who were involved, but I just cannot imagine this dude taking an entire animatronic like that and not having selfies with it on his phone/leaving a huge trail of evidence.

 

[nol_dur]

Being "safe in the hands of Disney" led to him being stolen in the first place, though. There's no excuse whatsoever for the theft, but Disney probably should have moved him when it became clear that people were regularly breaking into the theatre. Especially since he was already tagged for archival.

There's no better way to say it

 

[nol_dur]

Offhand Disney is one of many YouTube channels that have popped up over the last few years that attempt to cover Disney and theme park history lessons. Like many of them, Offhand Disney, while mostly okay, tends to spout off long-standing rumors and urban legends as facts. Yesterworld Entertainment is the only one I've seen that puts serious research into their videos, almost on the level of Martin's Videos.

Yeah, on the latest podcast he was saying he was about to put a whole segment in his Alice in Wonderland video that would disprove the myth that it was built on top of Mr Toad's

 

[nol_dur]

For some reason, deep in my heart of hearts, I don't think BDD took Buzzy. Just an gut thing I guess. I really feel it was somebody else. I think BDD probably KNOWS the person/people who were involved, but I just cannot imagine this dude taking an entire animatronic like that and not having selfies with it on his phone/leaving a huge trail of evidence.

I feel the same way

 

[GhostlyGoofy]

For some reason, deep in my heart of hearts, I don't think BDD took Buzzy. Just an gut thing I guess. I really feel it was somebody else. I think BDD probably KNOWS the person/people who were involved, but I just cannot imagine this dude taking an entire animatronic like that and not having selfies with it on his phone/leaving a huge trail of evidence.

This is a good point. He'd have a 1000 geotagged selfies documenting the crime.

 

[justintheharris]

This sites shows what proof the state will need

Grand Theft- Florida | Definition, Penalties, Defenses

In Florida, Grand Theft is the unlawful taking of property valued at $750 or more. Grand theft is a felony offense, with severe penalties, including prison.

www.husseinandwebber.com

View attachment 380649
If the charges are just for the HM Props there probably wont even be jail time, just some hefty fines, probation.
View attachment 380648

However if more charges get added for other props sold and buzzy really is worth 120k...

When I read the affidavit, it’s almost certain new charges will come. 18 items got recovered and it said that each one would comprise new charges (at least his cousin’s affidavit said it).

 

[justintheharris]

This is a good point. He'd have a 1000 geotagged selfies documenting the crime.

There is a mention that when the police confiscated his phone, he resisted and tried to take it back. That led to him being arrested for resisting law enforcement. I'm not sure how drawn out this scenario was. Whether it was a simple snatch and struggle or a grand chase down I4 but it would appear to me that if he had more than 30 seconds with that phone to himself, he could quickly delete many incriminating photos. He obviously didn't delete them all though given the Haunted Mansion photos.

 

[MGMBoy]

There is a mention that when the police confiscated his phone, he resisted and tried to take it back. That led to him being arrested for resisting law enforcement. I'm not sure how drawn out this scenario was. Whether it was a simple snatch and struggle or a grand chase down I4 but it would appear to me that if he had more than 30 seconds with that phone to himself, he could quickly delete many incriminating photos. He obviously didn't delete them all though given the Haunted Mansion photos.

Speaking as someone with a father in law enforcement (and specializing in data recovery), even if he did "delete" the images, they could very likely be recovered.

 

[glawio]

Speaking as someone with a father in law enforcement (and specializing in data recovery), even if he did "delete" the images, they could very likely be recovered.

I can neither confirm nor deny that I do work for a major company named after a fruit but there are definitely ways around encryption of deleted items from their cloud service and operating systems. These ways are expensive and difficult so I would suppose it depends on how determined the investigators are.

 

[Seth141]

It just seems so silly to me. Buzzy has been dead for years. They had no plan to use him for anything. His usefulness was spent. He had a good run, but, it came to an end. Value of $120,000? Seriously? It might have cost Disney that much to create him, but, as of the closing of WoL Pavilion he was already an asset depreciated entry on the corporate tax form. Spare parts maybe to some extent. Who knows maybe Disney did just recycle him for parts, but, upon seeing the response decided to continue the charade and just said he was missing to throw everyone off the path. Hey, it could happen. Whether it did or not remains to be seen, but, I know that if I never hear about it anymore, it will not be one of the things I think about on my death bed. It would probably be more like... I wonder if I should have gotten that penicillin shot back in 1969.

Hadn’t we heard that Disney imagineers we’re testing the animatronic as recently as last summer? That sounds to me like they could have been planning to use it for something.

 

[glawio]

Hadn’t we heard that Disney imagineers we’re testing the animatronic as recently as last summer? That sounds to me like they could have been planning to use it for something.

We saw pictures of scaffolding up around Buzzy in 2013, after he had been cleaned up/repainted. We've never had a clear answer as to what was being done to him, whether this was just his repainting or him being tested. His hands and fingers are in different positions in the scaffolding pics than pics of the next time we saw him, so it seems he was at least running a bit.

Also as I am inspecting these pics, I'm pretty sure the animatronic only has two fingers on his left hand, I guess because he doesn't use that hand during the show much beyond holding the lever so they didn't need a full articulated hand like his right is. Just interesting.

 

[Dragonman]

I do know for one thing it was probably partially to fix how drunk he looked lol

Don’t know why they didn’t straight up remove him or Hypothalamus right then and there due to all the urb exers.

 

[GhostlyGoofy]

We saw pictures of scaffolding up around Buzzy in 2013, after he had been cleaned up/repainted. We've never had a clear answer as to what was being done to him, whether this was just his repainting or him being tested. His hands and fingers are in different positions in the scaffolding pics than pics of the next time we saw him, so it seems he was at least running a bit.

Also as I am inspecting these pics, I'm pretty sure the animatronic only has two fingers on his left hand, I guess because he doesn't use that hand during the show much beyond holding the lever so they didn't need a full articulated hand like his right is. Just interesting.

Is it possible he would have gotten such a refurb before being Archived so he'd look nice and polished before going into a crate. Or do archived items get displayed?

 

[justintheharris]

Speaking as someone with a father in law enforcement (and specializing in data recovery), even if he did "delete" the images, they could very likely be recovered.

I absolutely believe you. It just makes the process a tad more difficult.

 

[flynnibus]

So like... can somebody who's well versed in law explain why Spikes plead not guilty? I can only attribute it to a massive display of arrogance and stupidity. Is there another strategy afoot here?

Because if you don't plead not guilty.. there is no challenge and (unless pre-arranged) no say in what the sentencing is. To plead guilty is to not fight at all and accept everything they throw at you.

Instead by pleading not guilty, the state will be forced to present their evidence, allow it to be challenged, and prove to the standard of a jury that the charges are correct and should stick.

 

[flynnibus]

Well yes but I was more thinking that he probably has almost no chance of getting out of this and doesn't a guilty plea usually come with a lighter sentencing?

What is more typical is...

State has say... 4 charges... maybe 2 really severe. Some may stick, some may not. To better their chance of landing an actual conviction, and get at least the minimum of what they want... they negotiate with the defendant to plead guilty to some of the charges, in exchange for dropping other charges and maybe a better outlook for sentencing.

But if you plead guilty up front.. that doesn't happen.

If they fight to the end, still maybe only some of the charges stick... but they are gambling and gambling on the sentencing. But still better than not fighting at all.

The standard to convict is way higher than to the standard to press charges. And the evidence in the case can be challenged... This is what lawyers are paid to do.

 

[justintheharris]

What is more typical is...

State has say... 4 charges... maybe 2 really severe. Some may stick, some may not. To better their chance of landing an actual conviction, and get at least the minimum of what they want... they negotiate with the defendant to plead guilty to some of the charges, in exchange for dropping other charges and maybe a better outlook for sentencing.

But if you plead guilty up front.. that doesn't happen.

If they fight to the end, still maybe only some of the charges stick... but they are gambling and gambling on the sentencing. But still better than not fighting at all.

The standard to convict is way higher than to the standard to press charges. And the evidence in the case can be challenged... This is what lawyers are paid to do.

Definitely agree. I just think resistance is futile here.

 

[My95cobras]

Well yes but I was more thinking that he probably has almost no chance of getting out of this and doesn't a guilty plea usually come with a lighter sentencing?

Neither did oj.... but

 

[glawio]

Thank you Orlando Rising for keeping me in the know even if its with the mention of information that is infuriatingly private...