Court documents revealed that a man was detained on Wednesday after authorities claim he installed a hidden camera in a shared bathroom on a cruise ship and recorded more than 150 people—including minors—before another passenger noticed it.
According to the criminal complaint created by an FBI agent, the incident happened on a seven-day Royal Caribbean cruise that left Miami, Florida, on April 29. The ports of call for the Harmony of the Seas ship were Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Saint Martin.
On the ship’s top deck, near a surfing simulator and a bar, about a day after departure, while it was in international waters, the complaint claimed, a WiFi-enabled hidden camera was installed.
The small black camera and its concealment location, an exposed space above the interior of the bathroom door where part of the wall had been removed for repairs, were both visible in photos that were included with the complaint.
The camera was only partially visible the day after, on May 1, when a passenger noticed it and alerted the Royal Caribbean crew.
The memory card was on the camera when security personnel removed it, and they discovered hours of video that showed more than 150 people using the restroom. On the recording, some victims could be seen changing while naked. According to the complaint, about 40 of them appeared to be minors, some of them as young as 4 or 5.
However, the video also showed the suspect setting up the camera and later moving it to focus on the bathroom. According to the complaint, after being questioned by ship security personnel within hours, passenger Jeremy Froias acknowledged installing the camera. Froias was accused of attempted possession of child exploitation material as well as video voyeurism, which is when someone is secretly recorded in a private setting. Court documents show that he was detained on Wednesday. Froias’s attorney did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
In a statement provided to Insider, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said: “We are aware of an incident that occurred on board Harmony of the Seas’ April 29 cruise. The matterwas immediately reported to local and federal law enforcement and the guest involved was removed from the ship by authorities for further investigation. We are unable to divulge any further information at this time because this case is still open.”
The FBI is asking the general public for assistance in locating the victims.”The FBI thinks that between April 30 and May 1, 2023, he primarily targeted passengers on cruise ships who might have visited the public restroom on the Harmony’s top deck, which is located between the “Flow Rider” surfing simulator and a bar. Passengers using this bathroom may have been video recorded by Froias,” an FBI notice said.
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Source: businessinsider
