FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A federal criminal complaint reveals more extensive allegations of voyeurism against a Royal Caribbean cruise line employee arrested at Port Everglades over the weekend.
Arvin Joseph Mirasol, 34, was taken into custody by Broward County deputies after the Symphony of the Seas returned to Port Everglades on Sunday.
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He had been detained at sea by ship security officers after a woman and her two young daughters discovered a hidden camera in their bathroom on Feb. 25, one day after setting sail from South Florida, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Mirasol is not only facing multiple state video voyeurism charges, but federal charges of production and possession of child pornography — and, according to a federal charging document, the stateroom attendant admitted to serially spying on young girls as soon as he started working on the Symphony of the Seas in December.
Authorities said Mirasol admitted to placing hidden cameras in multiple rooms. They said they found videos on a USB stick belonging to Mirasol containing “numerous videos of naked females undressing in the bathroom as well as videos of child pornography.”
One video described in the federal criminal complaint was of a girl, appearing to be 10 years old, undressing and showering, her genitals “clearly visible” and “the focus of the video.”
Authorities said they also found multiple voyeurism-related searches on Mirasol’s phone, including “teen on bed.”
“I want to control it, but I can’t,” he told federal investigators, according to the charging documents.
When asked how he decides which rooms to place cameras in, investigators said Mirasol told them, “If I like who is in that room, I place it,” saying he would choose teenage girls 16 and over.
He admitted to knowing that doing so was illegal, authorities said, and “also stated that while the guests were taking a shower, he would enter the rooms and hide under the bed while recording them naked with his cellular device.”
Mirasol, a Philippine national, remained held without bond in BSO’s Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach as of Tuesday, according to jail records.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson, in a statement to Local 10 News on Monday, said the cruise line has “zero tolerance for this unacceptable behavior.”
“We immediately reported this to law enforcement and terminated the crew member, and we will continue to fully cooperate with authorities,” the statement read.