Vacationers expecting a magical getaway instead witnessed a jarring scene last month when federal agents boarded multiple cruise ships docked in San Diego, hauling off crew members in handcuffs as passengers watched in disbelief U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted enforcement operations across five vessels between April 23 and 25, targeting child sexual exploitation material. Among those boarded was a Disney cruise ship, and what agents found was deeply disturbing.
After boarding the vessels and interviewing 26 suspected crew members from the Philippines, one suspected crew member from Portugal, and one from Indonesia, officers confirmed all subjects were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSEM or child pornography,” a CBP spokesperson said.
All 28 individuals had their visas canceled and are being deported. It remains unclear exactly how many of the arrested crew members worked specifically aboard the Disney vessel, or which cruise lines the remaining four ships belonged to.
Disney swiftly responded, stating: “We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and fully cooperated with law enforcement. While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company.”
But the entertainment giant’s troubled record with child predators stretches back years. A six-month CNN investigation published in 2014 found that at least 35 Disney employees had been arrested since 2006 on charges including sex crimes against children, soliciting minors, and possession of child pornography. In 2019 alone, a Disney cruise “youth host” was arrested for allegedly molesting a ten-year-old boy, and another cruise employee faced charges of raping a girl over 100 times, beginning when she was just 11.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd summed up the grim reality: “Wherever you find children, you’ll find sexual predators that want to be there.”
Federal authorities say the investigation remains ongoing.
