Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently issued a press release described as a “cruise ship crack down” involving “child exploitation offenders during joint operation.”
The press release stated that the CBP’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport human trafficking unit collaborated with the Port of Galveston in Texas and Port Canaveral in Florida in an operation that caught 11 cruise ship crew members involved in child sexual exploitation. The release states, “One arrest was made after disturbing content was found, while ten others were removed from the U.S. following investigations.”
This multi-agency operation involved the CBP Miami/Tampa and Houston Field Offices, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Air Marshal Service, and local law enforcement.
The press release contained a number of images of the unidentified crew members which did not show their faces. Several of the mug shots were blurred so that the cruise ship workers could not be identified. The CBP Office of Field Operation posted the release and the images on its Facebook page. The reactions on Facebook thank the officers for apprehending the men but overwhelmingly ask why the CBP blurred their faces and which cruise line employed them on which cruise ship.
- “They are older than 17. Show their faces and name the cruise line.
- Whoaaaa… how do we get more details? I cruise with my kids and this makes me nervous! Is this from a certain cruise line, kids clubs, etc?!
- Why are we giving these people privacy and blurring their mugshots???
- Don’t protect these people show their faces let the public see.
- I want to know what cruise line had these people working!
- Thankful they were caught BUT why are their faces blurred as if they deserve some kind of privacy??!!!
- Show their faces. Maybe someone will recognize them from other incidents.
- They didn’t protect the innocent why are we protecting the guilty?
- What’s the point of putting the picture on here if you can’t see who they are?? Why blur their faces and protect them?”
The press release provides limited information, including an ambiguous statement regarding exactly what criminal charges led to these these eleven ship employees’ apprehension. The release refers to “child exploitation offenders.” It sounds like these men may have been apprehended for possession of “child sexual abuse materials” which is sometimes referred to as child pornography. But the charges could potentially involve creating child pornography (by filming children via a spy cam) or include a sexual act like molestation. In most cases where a crew member is arrested and a criminal case is opened, the arresting officer will file a probable cause affidavit explaining the details of the sexual materials. Here, there are no court files to read.
The CBP also says that “one arrest was made after disturbing content was found…” The CBP also mentions “ten others were removed from the U.S. following investigations,” but provides no explanation why one one crew member was arrested yet the remaining ten crew members were “removed” (i.e., deported) from the U.S.
Many people will celebrate the news of a child sexual pervert being deported, but the reality is these crew members will likely not be prosecuted in their home country. Furthermore, they will not be prosecuted for crimes on a U.S. based cruise ship after being deported and probably will continue to commit sexual crimes against children in their home countries.
This is the first I have ever heard of the U.S. deporting, but not arresting and charging, a crew member who engages in child pornography or sexually abusing a child on a cruise ship. We have written about as many as 17 crew members in the last year who were arrested and charged with possession of child sexual abuse materials. (Read: Epidemic of Child Pornography on Cruise Ships Continues As Two More Crew Members Are Arrested and Two Carnival Cruise Crew Members Arrested for Child Pornography: Fifteen Cruise Ship Employees Arrested in Last Six Months.) Their names and job positions together with mug shots and details of their crimes are typically disclosed by the U.S. Justice Department and/or local law enforcement. One of the best examples was the arrest of Theodore “Banks” Pappas, Jr., previously employed by Norwegian Cruise Line on the Norwegian Bliss as a broadcast technician, who was extradited from Los Angeles on charges related to child sexual abuse materials. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) posted a mugshot of Pappas as well as images of him being arrested and flown back to Florida from Los Angeles.
It is a disservice to protect the image and identity of men who are engaged in the victimization of children and keep the identity of the pedophile pervert’s cruise line employer and cruise ship secret.
The issue also arises where these ten crew members were deported. Thousands of immigrants have been deported by the U.S. to the maximum security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador (CECOT). Were their names omitted and faces obscured so that no one would know that they were sent in a plane to CECOT and denied legal representation and any semblance of due process?
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Image credit: Pedophile crew members – CBP Office of Field Operations.