A Filipino man who was convicted of producing child pornography after installing hidden cameras aboard a Royal Caribbean ship has caused a dozen passengers who were secretly filmed naked to sue the cruise line.
Arvin Joseph Mirasol, a 34-year-old who worked as a Royal Caribbean stateroom attendant from December 1, 2023, to February 26, 2024, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in August, Breitbart News reported.
A guest aboard the Symphony of the Seas ship reported finding a hidden camera in their bathroom on February 25, 2024, to ship security, prompting them to detain Mirasol until the ship docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 3, leading to his arrest.
As a stateroom attendant, Mirasol was assigned to clean and stock items in a specific block of rooms, including the one where the camera was found installed underneath a bathroom sink.
Mirasol’s electronics were then seized and searched by law enforcement, who discovered “numerous videos of children in various stages of undress” with focus on “the children’s genital areas,” prosecutors said.
The children depicted in the videos captured by Marisol, which also captured him installing the camera, ranged in age from two to seventeen.
Also disturbing was Mirasol’s guilty plea admission to entering guests’ rooms while they were showering and hiding under their beds so he could “secretly record them exiting the shower,” the attorney’s office said.
Five months after his sentencing on the child pornography charges, a 30-page lawsuit was filed against Royal Caribbean in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, on behalf of 12 plaintiffs, including some minors, the Daily Mail reported.
“The Plaintiffs in this case have suffered physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental and nervous disorders,” the firm representing the passengers, Aronfeld Trial Lawyers, said in a press release.
“These injuries are permanent and continuing in nature. We demand a judgement for all damages recoverable under the law, including punitive damages and a trial by jury.”
The suit claims that in addition to capturing inappropriate and private moments on his hidden camera, Mirasol also uploaded these images to the internet — including the dark web, where child pornography is frequently trafficked.
“The fact that many of the victims we represent still do not know if and how their images have been used or circulated is incredibly disturbing,” attorney Spencer Aronfeld said. “Some of the plaintiffs are children – and once an image is on the internet, it is there forever.”
Mirasol is also facing up to 15 additional counts of video voyeurism in Broward Circuit Court, according to CBS News, and a separate class action lawsuit was already filed in October 2024 by a mother and her two young daughters, the outlet reported.
“If I like who is in that room, I place it,” the disgraced former ship employee allegedly told investigators of his hidden camera habits, according to court documents cited by the Daily Mail.
After retrieving his cameras, Mirasol said he watched the footage while “pleasuring himself,” prosecutors said.
“I want to control it, but I can’t,” he allegedly claimed.
While about two dozen victims caught by the cameras were notified by law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of his arrest, the October lawsuit claimed that Royal Caribbean failed to notify passengers who stayed in cabins that Mirasol may have had access to.
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