Cruise ship employee sentenced to 30 years in prison for hiding cameras in guest rooms – NBC 6 South Florida

A cruise ship crew member was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Wednesday for installing hidden cameras in guests’ bathrooms to produce child pornography, authorities said.

Arvin Joseph Mirasol pleaded guilty to producing child pornography while working as a cabin attendant aboard the Royal Caribbean Group’s Symphony of the Seas cruise ship, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Mirasol was discovered when a guest spotted a hidden camera attached to the counter under the sink in his bathroom on February 25 and reported the incident to ship security.

He was detained until the ship docked at Fort Lauderdale’s Everglades Port on March 3. That’s when officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection boarded and began their investigation.

“Law enforcement discovered that Mirasol’s electronic devices contained numerous videos of children in various stages of undressing. The focus of the videos was on the children’s genitals. One video showed Mirasol himself installing a camera in a guest’s bathroom,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The children in the videos were between 2 and 17 years old.

According to authorities, Mirasol also entered guests’ rooms while they were showering and hid under their beds to secretly film them as they exited the shower.

Mirasol, a Filipino national, has installed cameras in passenger cabins since December 2023, the press release said.

In a March statement, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Special Victims Unit investigators are working with Homeland Security Investigations agents to locate additional possible victims.

Authorities said anyone with information about suspected crimes on cruise ships, including sexual abuse and child pornography, is asked to call the HSI hotline at 1-866-347-2423.