by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 12:10 PM ET, Wed March 6, 2024
A crew member on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship has been arrested on suspicion of secretly filming naked passengers, including children, reports USA Today.
The crew member is 34-year-old Arvin Joseph Mirasol. He is a stateroom attendant from the Philippines.
Mirasol faces charges of production of child pornography, possession of child pornography and six counts of video voyeurism.
On February 26, the cruise line contacted Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection and the Broward Sheriff’s Office after it learned that Mirasol had hidden a camera in guest bathrooms on Symphony of the Seas.
A passenger found a hidden camera in her stateroom bathroom when she reached under the sink to grab a roll of toilet paper. She was staying in the cabin with her mother and her sister, according to NBC News.
Police conducted a border search and found child pornography on Mirasol’s electronic devices. When law enforcement looked at the contents of Mirasol’s USB stick drive, they also found videos of naked females—including a 10-year-old girl—undressing in a bathroom. One video shows Mirasol installing a video camera in a stateroom bathroom on the ship.
Mirasol told law enforcement officers that he chose the rooms based on which guests were staying in them; he also admitted that he knew filming minors was against the law.
He told police that he also entered staterooms while guests were showering, then hid under the bed to film them with his cell phone. He said he had been hiding cameras in staterooms since he began working on the ship in December 2023.
“We have zero tolerance for this unacceptable behavior,” Royal Caribbean Group said in a statement. “We immediately reported this to law enforcement and terminated the crew member, and we will continue to fully cooperate with authorities.”
An attorney for Mirasol declined to comment to USA Today.
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