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 with members of her household found a small spy digicam (lower than the dimensions of 1 / 4) hidden of their toilet. The tiny digicam was positioned instantly under the sink and was positioned to report folks utilizing the bathroom. The visitor instantly reported the spy digicam to visitor providers and safety officers ultimately responded. Whereas safety was current within the friends’ cabin, Mirasol appeared within the cabin and admitted that he owned the digicam. The friends had been savvy sufficient to report the situation of the digicam 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 youngsters in varied levels of undress,” in accordance with Local News 7.
Federal brokers found “quite a few movies of bare females” in addition to pictures of kid sexual abuse whereas his telephone, an SD card and USB stick. One video confirmed Mirasol putting in a digicam 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 previous” since he started engaged on the Royal Caribbean ship three months earlier.
In keeping with federal investigators, Mirasol would enter friends’ rooms “whereas they had been showering and conceal below their beds to report them exiting the bathe.”
Along with the federal prison costs 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.
Baby pornography and using spy cameras on cruise ships have change into a selected drawback within the final yr. This incident is only one of no less than sixteen incidents in a interval of six months the place crew members engaged on cruise ships have been arrested on baby pornography costs.
Up to now, crew members from 5 corporations have been arrested on baby pornography costs: Carnival – 6 (or 7)(see clarification under*); Royal Caribbean – 4; Disney – 3; Superstar – 1; and Holland America Line – 1.
We’re conscious of no less than two incidents circumstances the place spy cameras had been positioned on cruise ships to movie unsuspecting friends. One case concerned the Carnival Fantasy:
And one latest 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 through 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 could 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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