Hundreds of unsuspecting Royal Caribbean passengers may have been filmed by hidden cameras planted in bathrooms by an ex-employee now serving 30 years in federal prison on child porn charges, according to an attorney for the victims.
The former cabin attendant, Arvin Joseph Mirasol, was sentenced to three decades behind bars in August after he pleaded guilty to producing child sexual abuse material by filming girls as young as 2 in various stages of undress on the Symphony of the Seas ships, Justice Department officials said.
Mirasol, a Philippine national, was detained at sea on Feb. 25 after a young girl discovered a camera hidden underneath a sink on a Royal Caribbean cruise that set sail from Florida. He was arrested days later when the boat returned to port.
Investigators confiscated his electronic devices and found a trove of elicit videos of children showering and getting dressed, officials said.
The convicted creep also admitted to hiding under the beds inside cabins to spy on children exiting the shower and record them, investigators said.
A dozen of Mirasol’s victims and their families are now suing Royal Caribbean Group, arguing that the cruise line didn’t do enough to protect them and screen out predators during the hiring process, Florida’s 7News reported.
“I was shocked. I was, I mean, in complete disbelief,” one of the plaintiffs, whose daughter was just 2 years old when they took the cruise, told the outlet. “We entrusted our privacy, our safety with their cruise line, and to hear that our privacy was completely just thrown off the window with this situation was really shocking to me.”
Spencer Aronfeld, the attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the 12 anonymous victims said he believes hundreds of victims are likely walking around not even knowing that they were filmed by the pervert.
“He installed, underneath the cabin bathroom sink, a camera where he was recording people using the bathroom — men and women and children, in and out of the showers,” he told the Florida news station.
“We think there are hundreds of other victims out there,” Aronfeld added.
The plaintiff with the 2-year-old daughter said she wants accountability.
“We want disclosure, we want accountability. Compensation would be ideal as well,” she told 7News. “For the most part, we want to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else’s family.”
An earlier lawsuit filed by another anonymous victim of Mirasol estimated that as many as 960 people may have been victimized by the former employee and his hidden cameras.
That lawsuit, filed a month after his sentencing, alleged that Mirasol also filmed adults and posted the footage online — including of the anonymous plaintiff.
“Upon information and belief, Mirasol transmitted and/or uploaded images of the Plaintiff while undressed and engaging in private activities, to third parties and/or to the world wide web, including, but not limited to, the dark web, without Plaintiff’s prior knowledge or consent,” the complaint states.
Up to 960 passengers may have been filmed without their knowledge based on the number of cabins Mirasol serviced during his employment — and they still may not know to this day, according to the suit.
Royal Caribbean did not inform other passengers staying in rooms serviced by the convicted pedophile between Dec. 1, 2023 and Feb. 26, 2024 on 12 different cruises, the lawsuit alleges.
“Who knows how many countless numbers of pornographic images of these unsuspecting passengers will be circulating on the internet forever because Royal Caribbean failed to protect their privacy and allowed Mirasol to make these passengers victims,” Jason Margulies, an attorney with Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A., representing the plaintiff, told Fox News in October.
Royal Caribbean didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
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