A Royal Caribbean stateroom attendant on the Symphony of the Seas was sentenced by a federal court docket decide to 30 years in jail for producing baby pornography.
Arvin Joseph Mirasol, age 34, a citizen of the Philippines, was sentenced in Miami federal court docket yesterday.
Throughout a cruise from Fort Lauderdale in late February, an grownup visitor who was touring along with her mom and sister found a small spy digital camera (lower than the dimensions of 1 / 4) hidden of their toilet. The tiny digital camera was positioned instantly beneath the sink and was positioned to file folks utilizing the bathroom. The visitor instantly reported the spy digital camera to visitor companies and safety officers finally responded. Whereas safety was current within the visitors’ cabin, Mirasol appeared within the cabin and admitted that he owned the digital camera. The visitors had been savvy sufficient to file the placement of the digital camera in addition to Mirasol’s feedback when he returned to the cabin.
Upon the Royal Caribbean cruise ship’s return to Port Everglades on March third, Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) and Customs and Border Safety (CBP) brokers searched Mirasol’s electronics, “uncovering quite a few movies of kids in varied levels of undress,” in keeping with Native Information 7.
Federal brokers found “quite a few movies of bare females” in addition to photos of kid sexual abuse whereas his cellphone, an SD card and USB stick. One video confirmed Mirasol putting in a digital camera in a cruise visitor’s toilet.
Mirasol started working as a cabin attendant for Royal Caribbean in December of 2023. The investigation revealed that Mirasol had been ‘secretly recording passengers, together with youngsters as younger as 2 years outdated” since he started engaged on the Royal Caribbean ship three months earlier.
In response to federal investigators, Mirasol would enter visitors’ rooms “whereas they had been showering and conceal underneath their beds to file them exiting the bathe.”
Along with the federal prison fees of manufacturing baby pornography, Mirasol was additionally charged with six counts of video voyeurism in state court docket after the Broward Sheriff’s Workplace interviewed him.
Youngster pornography and using spy cameras on cruise ships have turn into a selected drawback within the final yr. This incident is only one of not less than sixteen incidents in a interval of six months the place crew members engaged on cruise ships have been arrested on baby pornography fees.
Up to now, crew members from 5 firms have been arrested on baby pornography fees: Carnival – 6 (or 7)(see clarification beneath*); Royal Caribbean – 4; Disney – 3; Celeb – 1; and Holland America Line – 1.
We’re conscious of not less than two incidents instances the place spy cameras had been positioned on cruise ships to movie unsuspecting visitors. One case concerned the Carnival Fantasy:
And one current incident concerned Royal Caribbean’s Concord of the Seas simply final Could:
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Picture credit: Symphony of the Seas – Darthvadrouw – CC BY-SA 4.0 commons / wikimedia; Arvin Joseph Mirasol – Broward County Sheriff’s Workplace by way of Information 7; headline textual content – Information 7.
*The employer of 1 crew member, Ferry Maryanto, who was arrested in June for baby pornography, was not recognized. He might have been employed by Carnival Cruise Line on both the Carnival Horizon or the Carnival Magic. He was arrested on the port of Miami on a day when two cruise ships operated by Carnival, one ship operated by Virgin Voyages and one ship operated by Norwegian Cruise Line had been in port.
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