"Sex Crime"

Published on: December 13, 2024

Cruise Passenger Reports to Miami-Dade Police Rape by Crew Members. What to Know.

Police are investigating rape allegations after an MSC Cruises passenger claims she was raped by multiple crew members on a recent voyage.

The woman, a 44-year-old from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, who was not named in the article, reported the incident to police on Dec. 7 when her ship returned to PortMiami. The woman alleges that while traveling alone for a week-long cruise she mistakenly mixed her anti-anxiety medication with alcohol and went to the ship’s buffet. The woman said she planned to take the food back with her to her cabin to eat before going to bed.

A waiter allegedly found her and took her plate to her room, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. Instead of leaving, the woman said the waiter lingered before raping her. The next day, the woman said what room she was staying in while speaking with a different crewmember.

Published on: December 13, 2024

Fire Breaks Out on Cruise Ship with Headquarters in Miami. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

An electrical fire broke out on the first night of a cruise leaving Port Canaveral over the weekend.

The electrical fire allegedly started in an emergency generator room of MSC Seashore Sunday. No injuries were reported in this incident and the fire was quickly put out, according to reporting from media outlets following cruise line news. As a result of the incident, guests reported smoke, dining room closures and elevator shutdowns.

The ship is set to return to Port Canaveral on Dec. 15.

Published on: September 17, 2024

Man accused of filming child in Florida mall restroom faces charges, police say. A Look at Similar Cruise Ship Cases.

By Leesfield & Partners

A 22-year-old man allegedly used a cell phone to take photos of a little girl in the women’s restroom of a Naples mall, the Naples Police Department said in a press release Monday.

David Sanabria, of unincorporated Collier County, was charged with video voyeurism and drug charges related to the incident. As of Tuesday morning, Sanabria remained in custody at the Collier County Jail, records show. Sanabria was given a court date of Oct. 7. Attorney details as well as information about a potential bond were not immediately available Tuesday.

The incident happened on Sept. 13 at the Coastland Center Mall, a shopping center featuring approximately 122 stores a movie theater and food court. Police who were patrolling the mall were approached by a minor who said that a man was taking photos of her in the women’s restroom from a neighboring bathroom stall. Police saw Sanabria exiting the women’s restroom and he was taken into custody, investigators said in the press release.

Published on: May 21, 2013

Disney crewmember evades justice after sexually molesting 11-year-old child on cruise ship

By Leesfield & Partners

According to the following report filed by Orlando local station WKMG-Channel 6 last night, Disney Cruise Line knowingly delayed to report a sexual molestation crime to local police last summer. Rather than possibly be sitting in jail awaiting trial right now, the crewmember was allowed to fly back to his home country of India with a clean criminal record. Below is the chilling story reported by WKMG reporter Tony Pipitone.

This report would be only chilling if it was not customary for crimes in general and sexual crimes in particular to be unreported or widely under-reported. Since the passage in 2010 of a mandatory reporting law of crimes occurring on cruise ships, the number of crimes has inexplicably decreased. One could leap to the conclusion that cruise ships are becoming safer and safer with time, but that would be the wrong assumption. In reality, when a crime occurs on a cruise ship, the cruise line has sole discretion to categorize an incident as criminal in nature. No one doubts that crimes aboard cruise ships is not the best publicity. Especially sexual molestations on minor children aboard a Disney cruise! So the cruise line must find a way to minimize and lessen the number of crimes it reports to the competent authorities. So a cruise line will categorize a crime as a non-criminal event and bypass the reporting laws.

The other way cruise lines have hidden the true frequency of crimes on their ship is by threatening victims. We have reported on several occasions that alcohol consumption aboard cruise ships is on the rise. Invariably, more alcohol being consumed translates in more fights and physical assaults. When the victim of an assault comes forward, the security officers will offer the victim to report the incident to the local authorities and press charges against the assailant at the next port. But the caveat is that, in order to do so, the victim must disembark the ship (sometimes with their entire party) and return home without further assistance from the cruise line. Faced with additional aggravations and a very deterring option, most victims choose to remain on the ship, and the crime goes unreported.

Published on: October 24, 2012

Former Assistant Cruise Director for Norwegian Cruise Line sentenced to 9 years in Federal Prison on Child Pornography Charges

By Leesfield & Partners

Last March, we reported on the arrest of Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Assistant Cruise Director, Senad Djedovic. Last week, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday sentenced Djedovic to 9 years in federal prison.

The details of the alleged crimes were discussed in detail in our previous article: Norwegian Cruise Line’s crewmember arrested after having sex with 16-year-old female passenger

Facing mounting evidence, Djedovic plead guilty to possessing child pornography last Summer. Investigators discovered photos and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit acts on Djedovic’s computers. Among them were approximately 20 photos sent by a 16-year-old female passenger whom Djedovic met on the Norwegian Star, a cruise ship Djedovic was assigned to as the Assistant Cruise Director.

Last May in Court, he admitted to having engaged in sexual acts with the minor girl while on the ship and to having exchanged explicit photos with her after the cruise. In his plea agreement, Djedovic declared that he knew the girl was 16-years-old and underage.

senad djedovic arrest.jpg Ultimately, this crime and criminal would never have been discovered or prosecuted had Djedovic himself not bragged about it. Days after the cruise was over, Djedovic began talking about what he did to and in front of other crew-members, even showing to some of them the photos he had received from the minor passenger. One of the crew-members alerted the authorities and Djedovic was arrested shortly thereafter by the FBI.

Sex crimes aboard cruise ships are becoming more and more frequent and the prosecution of individuals who engage in sexual acts with minor passengers are prosecuted more and more often. This latest case is however very troubling because the criminal involved was a cruise employee. Djedovic was employed by Norwegian Cruise Lines from 2006 through 2012, until he was arrested.
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Published on: August 23, 2012

Horrifying details emerge in gang-rape of 15-year-old female passenger

By Leesfield & Partners

Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg obtained the complaint filed in Federal Court against Casey Dickerson on August 20, 2012. The investigation and interviews conducted by Federal Special Agent, Christopher Williams, describe a savage attack on a defenseless and inebriated minor child. The complaint is available below for download.

According to the complaint filed in the Middle District of Florida, Casey Dickerson, 31, was a passenger on the Carnival Sensation that left Port Canaveral on August 16, scheduled to return at the same port on August 19. Dickerson and his wife were originally assigned to stay in cabin E-153. Due to Dickerson’s spouse complaints about noise, Carnival reassigned the couple to cabin U-212. Somehow Casey Dickerson retained possession of the key card of the first cabin and right to use both cabins.

On August 19, Carnival contacted the FBI to report an alleged sexual assault on a minor female passenger that occurred during the early morning hours of August 19, 2012. Special Agent Williams met with the victim immediately after the ship docked in Port Canaveral. The young girl provided gruesome details on what she went through that night. The victim, along with a female friend of hers, who is also 15, and four other male minors that she knew, went to Dickerson’s cabin U-212.

Once inside the cabin, the victim said that she was held down by Dickerson and some of the other males, and all took turns raping her. While the attack was going on, the victim’s female friend was being held by one of boys in the cabin’s bathroom. At one point, the victim said that Dickerson was having vaginal sex with her, stopped, and walked to the bathroom door to make sure the friend would not come out and tell the boy who was inside the bathroom with her to “get it on” and to “show her a good time”. While at the door, Dickerson also encouraged the two other boys who were holding the victim down to “switch” and take turn raping the victim.
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Published on: August 22, 2012

Cruise passenger arrested for raping 15-year-old girl on Carnival Sensation

By Leesfield & Partners

Casey Dickerson, a 31-year-old married man, was on a Bahamas cruise with his wife. The large ship, Carnival Sensation, departed from Cape Canaveral last Thursday. Dickerson was arrested by the FBI at the end of the cruise on charges of raping a minor girl in his cabin.

During a very strange camera interview conducted in jail, the alleged rapist said “the cruise was great.” Apparently unaware of the seriousness of the alleged crime, he admitted that he bought alcohol for a group of underage teenagers and invited them to his room. That is where the alleged attack took place.

According to investigators, Dickerson was approached by a group of teenagers to buy them alcoholic drinks. On Carnival ships, the legal drinking age is 21. Dickerson apparently agreed and bought alcohol before inviting the group to party in his room.