Trigger Warning: This piece contains mentions of child sexual exploitation, cruelty towards animals, and sexual violence against minors.
Last Sunday, at PortMiami, two crew members got apprehended for possessing child pornography, adding up to a total of twelve crew members arrested in South Florida within the past five months. Recent cruise ship workers were apprehended by Miami-Dade police last weekend following cabin inspections that uncovered both child sexual exploitation material and bestiality videos on their mobile phones, as per Miami Local 10 News.
The local news outlet disclosed that U.S. Customs and Border (CBP) Protection officers searched the cabins of Igedeboy Mardika (featured in the top image), a 28-year-old citizen of Indonesia, and Sreerag Vazhayil (shown in the bottom image), a 32-year-old citizen of India, at PortMiami on Sunday. CBP officers came upon videos depicting the sexual abuse and assault of both boys and girls by both men and women, with some victims being as young as preschoolers.
Vazhayil was in possession of a video showing a man engaging in sexual activities with a horse, while Mardika had three videos showing women engaging in activities with a horse, a dog, and a pig, as per Miami-Dade Police. Additionally, Mardika was involved in the distribution of a video depicting child sexual abuse, although specific details of this allegation were not revealed.
These individuals are facing criminal charges from prosecutors within the state’s legal system. Florida stands as the singular state in the United States with laws granting state authorities and prosecutors the jurisdiction to investigate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals aboard cruise ships originating from and returning to Florida.
Mardika is confronted with 16 felony charges related to the possession and dissemination of child sexual abuse materials, in addition to three charges for possessing bestiality videos.
Vazhayil, on the other hand, faces seven felony charges concerning the possession of child sexual abuse material and a single charge of owning a video depicting sexual acts with animals.
There have been previous reports of ten other cruise ship crew members, who called upon Miami and Fort Lauderdale, being detained on child pornography charges since February of this year:
2 Carnival Crew Members:
Iputuagus Karnawan, also known as Putu Karnawan (aged 28), purportedly served as a cook in the galley of the Carnival Conquest. Imadewisma Dana (also aged 28) also worked as a cook on the Carnival Conquest. These two Carnival staff members were arrested for having child sexual abuse materials after being apprehended recently at PortMiami with child pornography on their mobile devices.
Icreatedtheir Dana (left), Iputuagus Karnawan (upper right), Carnival Conquest (right).
3 Noble Caribbean Crew Members:
Iwayan Pasek Brahmantara, age 32,(Noble Caribbean assistant waiter on the Wonder of the Seas), Komang Parianta, age 33, (Noble Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas), and Zin Naing Htun, age 36, (Noble Caribbean, ship unknown) were all apprehended for possessing child pornography. Brahmantara purportedly had two videos on his cell of girls as young as 5 years old being sexually abused by men and a video of a female “participating in sexual activity with a horse.”
Zin Naing Htun (left), Iwayan Pasek Brahmantara (top right), and Komang Parianta (bottom right).
3 Disneyland Crew Members:
Tirso Anthony Neri, age 44, (Disney Dream), Alvin Gonzalez, age 49, (Disney Dream), Amiel Trazo, age 28, (Disney Dream) were taken into custody for possession of child pornography on the same Walt Disney vessel. U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities discovered explicit images of children as young as age 9 on Neri’s cell phones, age 8 on Gonzalez’s phone, and age 6 on Trazo’s device.
Disney Dream can be seen in the upper left corner, while Alvin Gonzalez appears in the upper right corner. Tirso Anthonu Neri is in the lower left corner, and Amiel Trazo is in the lower right corner.
1 Famous Crew Member:
At the age of 44, Dennis Ofrancia De Leon was discovered to have “multiple videos/photographs” portraying content related to child sexual exploitation material while aboard the Celebrity Reflection. Reports from Homeland Security agents detailed the presence of videos depicting minors being subjected to sexual abuse and assault.
Dennis Ofrancia De Leon is on the left, while Celebrity Reflection is featured on the right.
1 HAL Crew Member:
Jamaal Wade, who is 28 years old (pictured below), was employed by RWS Global as a dancer/performer on a Holland America Line voyage. He was apprehended with child sexual abuse materials that contained images of minors as young as two engaging in sexual acts with adults. Additionally, he was accused of sexually assaulting an eleven-year-old boy while on a tour for a performance group prior to his employment on a cruise ship.
To this point, three crew members employed by Royal Caribbean, three staff members aboard the Disney Dream, two crew personnel working for Carnival, one crew worker at Holland America Line, and one crew member with Celebrity were apprehended for offenses related to child exploitation.
Which Cruise Lines Employed the Recent Crew Members?
An inquiry arises regarding the employers of the last two crew members and the specific cruise ships they were assigned to.
Enforcement Against Child Exploitation by U.S. and Florida Legal Authorities
There seems to be a concerted effort by both state and federal law enforcement bodies to probe and take legal action against individuals in possession of and involved in the transportation of illicit materials involving minors on cruise vessels. It’s probable that upon confiscating a crew member’s iPhone or computer, law enforcement officials secure incriminating evidence from various platforms, including social media sites and online digital communications that circulate child exploitation materials, implicating a significant number of ship employees.
Are Cruise Lines Addressing the Unlawful Activities?
The core issue remains whether cruise operators are implementing measures to outlaw child exploitation aboard their vessels.
According to the Filipino publication Inquirer: “The Migrant Workers Office (MWO) of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC, is collaborating with agencies that deploy Filipino seafarers to cruise ships to combat incidents of child exploitation among cruise staff members. (“In the past six months, at least seven Filipino employees on cruise ships have been apprehended and detained in Florida for possessing and transporting materials involving minors,” as reported by the MWO).
“The possession or promotion of child exploitation materials is criminalized under U.S. federal and state laws. Individuals caught possessing, viewing, transporting, or distributing such materials will face prosecution and penalties.”
The MWO has urged the manning agencies to instruct seafarers to refrain from activities involving child exploitation. However, there is no indication that cruise lines are educating their employees about the illegality of child exploitation aboard their ships and the repercussions for engaging in such activities.
Moreover, it’s worth questioning the legality of child exploitation in some of the countries where cruise lines recruit their personnel, such as the Philippines. While child exploitation materials were criminalized for the first time in the Philippines in 2009 following advocacy efforts by organizations like UNICEF, more work is required. According to UNICEF, the legal age of consent in the Philippines remains at 12 years old.
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Image Credits: VAZHAYIL, SREERAG – Miami-Dade-County-Sexual-Predators; MARDIKA, IGEDEBOY – Miami-Dade-County-Sexual-Predators; Carnival Conquest – NormanEinstein; Celebrity Reflection – Master0Garfield commons/wikimedia; Dennis De Leon; Local 10 News (WPLG); Disney Dream – Ajmexico from Melbourne, USA – CC BY 2.0 commons / wikimedia
