Dozens of Disney workers arrested in 'To Catch A Predator'-style child sex stings
- CNN investigation found at least 35 Florida employees arrested since 2006
- They visited police trap house after explicit chats with undercover officers
- Workers included ticket seller, concierge, tour guide trainee and security
- Polk County Sheriff's Office now wants all child workers polygraph tested
- But Disney insisted the workers arrested made up just 0.01% of its staff
By Dan Bloom
Published: 09:37 GMT, 15 July 2014 | Updated: 16:13 GMT, 15 July 2014
2,334 shares
82
View comments
At least 35 Disney World employees have been arrested since 2006 over alleged child sex offences, an investigation has revealed.
The suspects included a ticket seller, a concierge and a trainee tour guide at the Florida resort - and even a night shift manager accused of watching child PICS at work while he wrote a church sermon.
Police caught many in stings modelled on the TV show To Catch a Predator, with undercover officers receiving explicit messages before the suspects agreed to meet at a home rigged with cameras.
Scroll down for videos
+14
Trapped: At least 35 Disney World employees have been arrested over child sex offences, an investigation has revealed. Pictured: 40-year-old Allen Treaster, a Disney concierge accused of trying to meet a 14-year-old boy
+14
Interview: Allen Treaster being questioned on camera. The total was revealed in an investigation by CNN
+14
Caught: Treaster at the police 'sting house'. He was arrested two weeks ago and faces five child sex charges
The latest round of arrests last week netted another 13 suspects, including four who at some point worked at the sprawling Magic Kingdom.
Disney has insisted the theme park is so large, with around 70,000 employees, that those arrested represent only 0.01 per cent of people it has employed since 2006.
More...
- One in 50 priests is a paedophile: Pope Francis says child abuse is 'leprosy' infecting the Catholic Church
- 'My fears were ignored': Former social services chief voiced concerns about paedophile ring in the 1990s
But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said paedophiles have obvious reasons for wanting to work at the resort and wants compulsory 'lie detector' polygraph tests for staff to be made legal.
The toll of Disney workers arrested was revealed after a six-month investigation by CNN's Kyra Phillips and Scott Zamost.
They tracked down many of the suspects still facing trial including 50-year-old Robert Kingsolver, who was employed as a ride repair worker by Disney when he was arrested in February.
Disney employees among those arrested in child sex sting
+14
+14
Charged: Disney concierge Allen Treaster, 40, accused of explicit chats with a '14-year-old boy' (left), and ticket supervisor Zachary Spencer, 26 (right) who police say sent explicit messages to a '13-year-old boy'
+14
+14
Toll: Arrested earlier this year were Walt Disney World employees Robert Kingsolver (left), 49, and Joel Torres (right), 32. Both were lured to a house by detectives thinking they would meet a child for sex, police said
+14
Interview: A tearful Kingsolver told CNN he was not guilty and said his family knew he was not a predator
He faces two charges of soliciting a child to commit a sex act after Lake County police say he tried to meet up with a 14-year-old girl.
Kingsolver - who has pleaded not guilty - told CNN he was trying to protect the girl from further harm, was not a predator and loved working at the resort.
'To see the look on the childrens' faces when they get to see Prince Charming or run in to Mickey, that was the best part, to see kids glow, seeing their heroes,' he said.
'They know how much I love them, all four of my kids, and they know their dad is not somebody who would go out and hurt a young child.'
Many more of those tracked down, however, were reluctant to appear on camera.
One of those arrested in Polk County Police's latest crackdown was 26-year-old Zachary Spencer, a ticket supervisor at the Magic Kingdom.
'Spencer initiated contact with an undercover detective via a social networking site', police said in a statement last week.
+14
Arrested: One of those from Universal Studios caught in the latest sting was 23-year-old Matthew Cody Myers - who told detectives he had also previously worked in food service at Disney, and at Sea World
+14
+14
Arrested: Matthew Cody Myers (left) and Timothy Lucas, 20 (right) who was accused of sending a photo of his penis to a detective he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Lucas said Disney fired him two weeks before his arrest
'The undercover detective told Spencer he was a 13-year-old boy. Spencer initiate sexually explicit messages to a person he thought was a 13-year-old boy, including mutual oral sex.
'The suspect travelled to the undercover location and was arrested.'
He faces five separate charges, as does 40-year-old Allen Treaster, who worked as a concierge at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Police arrested Treaster two weeks ago on su ion of sending explicit messages to an officer he thought was a 14-year-old boy.
'He admitted to chatting about performing oral sex on the "boy." Treaster said that it has always been a fantasy of his to have sex with a 14 year old boy'
- Polk County Police'He admitted to deputies that he travelled to meet a 14-year-old boy to see where things would lead to and was hoping for sex,' police said.
'He admitted to chatting about performing oral sex on the "boy." Treaster said that it has always been a fantasy of his to have sex with a 14 year old boy.'
Police are also investigating an alleged confession by Treaster that he previously had sex with a 15-year-old boy in a Georgia motel.
The CNN investigation found far more child sex arrests at Disney than at Universal Studios, which had five, or SeaWorld, which had two.
One of those from Universal caught in the latest sting was 23-year-old Matthew Cody Myers - who told detectives he had previously worked in food service at Disney, and at Sea World.
'Myers engaged in an online conversation with an undercover detective who identified herself as a 14-year-old girl', police said.
'He admitted to detectives that he solicited the conversation about sex and came to the residence with the mindset to have unprotected sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.'
Another arrest was of 32-year-old Patrick Holgerson, a Disney employee accused of sending explicit photos to someone he thought was a 13-year-old boy and his uncle.
+14
Popular: A Disney World spokesman said those arrested represented just 0.01 per cent of its staff
+14
Bait: Police in Lake County released videos of a previous sting in February. They defend their aggressive tactics
Disney World workers arrested in underage sex sting
And 20-year-old Timothy Lucas, arrested two weeks ago, was accused of sending a photo of his penis to a detective he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Lucas told officers Disney had fired him two weeks before his arrest for missing work.
Last month a former Disney employee was sentenced to six years' jail after sheriffs accused him of watching child PICS at work - while writing an Easter sermon for the church where he was a pastor.
Cedric Eugene Cuthbert, 50, was fired by Disney after his crimes were exposed.
+14
Ruthless: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd wants compulsory lie detector tests made legal
In all, the 35 Disney suspects since 2006 named by CNN are charges with various offences ranging mostly from child pornography and soliciting sex to sexual activity.
CNN said of all 42 theme park workers it examined, 32 had been convicted, eight had pleaded not guilty and two had not yet entered pleas.
The age of consent in Florida is 18.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has dismissed claims that his aggressive stings amount to entrapment.
He wants to be able to give compulsory 'lie detector' tests to anyone who works around children - including in a church or a nursery - to check they are not a paedophile.
'Why do people work at Disney?' he told CNN.
'Well, they work at Disney because they want a good, stable job for a great company, but there is always a few that are there because they can see children. They can live in a child's world.'
However, there are concerns around the use of polygraph machines to see if someone is telling the truth - both from civil liberties groups and experts who doubt their accuracy.
Disney, Universal Studios and Sea World all said they had the highest standard of background checks and took all allegations seriously.
Disney spokesman Jacquee Wahler told CNN in a statement: 'Providing a safe environment for children and families is a responsibility we take very seriously.
'We have extensive measures in place, including pre-employment and ongoing criminal background checks and computer monitoring and firewalls.
'The numbers reported by CNN represent one one-hundredth of one percent of the 300,000 people we have employed during this time period.
'We continue to work closely with law enforcement and organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as we constantly strengthen our efforts.'
Read more:
Pretty sure various churches over time have been totally cool with sexing young kids tbh
But this is sick and to be expected imo, Florida is a hole
Jesus christ
I mean, it's terrible, but WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT that an organization that caters first and foremost to children in large masses where they are easily distracted would attract people who are attracted to them!? It's SHOCKING.
Almost like how politics attracts assholes to the office.
or the uneducated power hungry to the police force
Or mall cops.
winner winnerOr mall cops.
what do you think disney should do to prevent child predators from being hired?
quit hiring potential child predators
That's probably pretty tough, especially if they haven't had any priors.
I think the interviewing process is really important. Having interviewers who discern the motivations for people wanting to work there. Obviously impossible to catch everyone, and I'm not even necessarily blaming Disney for negligence. They likely do a pretty good job.
But yeah, start with background checks. Monitor new employees. That sort of thing.
Do NOT put it in the hands of parents. The minute you ask them to report su ious behavior you're going to have every male staff in the entire resort reported for child predation. Avoid that entirely.
only hire non-whites
oh wait...you're looking for..."don't hire white males"?
ah...you beat me to it... er
cute girls,no pedo. twins?
i'm with you on more thorough background checks during the interview process and every 3 months post hire. i'd also take it up a notch and order mandatory psych evaluations(if its legal) once a year.
i think these covert stings are good for anyone working around children. they need to conduct some of these stings on school teachers as well.
there was a black male and some hispanics caught in the sting as well, doggie.
I agree with this. It's not going to be 100% but I think it's a start.
I know. I was in' wit cha. Although you didn't post the pic of the brother.
But to a parent...don't put your kids in situations where someone you don't know is watching them and/or has opportunity to hurt them.
35 since 2006, given how many parks they have. Not that bad but let's not be naive plenty haven't been caught
Not sure it's any worse than child predators in Jew-Wood
What's disturbing is that they are probably only rounding up the dumbest of the pedos in these stings.
ing how hard is it to say I want a lawyer
LOL. You expect these freaks to know to lawyer up when they don't know they shouldn't text pictures of their s to teenagers.
My nigra Trill! Spread the truth brother..Disney is not for the the children.
i agree with hiring hot chicks with tiggo bitties instead
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
