4 April 25 - MAy 1, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ FLORIDA SORDID SEAS DISNEY CRUISE WORKERS ARRESTED ON CHILD PORN CHARGES. BY NAOMI FEINSTEINI n recent months, a string of Disney Cruise workers have allegedly been found with caches of child porn on their devices while their ships were docked in South Florida. Following the arrest of two Disney Cruise crew members in a two-week span on child pornography charges in January, a third worker for the family cruise line was arrested April 15 for allegedly possessing lewd images of children. All of the workers were nabbed at Port Everglades, a Fort Lauderdale hub that is one of the busiest cruise ports in the nation. Tirso Neri, a 44-year- old crew member on the Disney Dream ship, is the latest worker to be charged. Following the ship’s ar- rival at Port Everglades on December 18, 2023, fed- eral agents searched two cellphones belonging to Neri and discovered “nu- merous sexually explicit photographs and videos of young children,” according to court documents. Law enforce- ment found two folders on his Samsung phone that contained sexually explicit photos and video of a young Asian girl. During his interview with law enforce- ment, Neri allegedly told investigators he be- longs to several group chats on Telegram and Facebook, where he downloads and buys links for adult pornography. When officers asked about a folder that had sexually explicit im- ages of a 17-year-old girl, Neri allegedly said he must have saved the folder from one of the group chats without look- ing at its contents and had not deleted the folder. “Neri stated that he sometimes obtains folders in the chat groups and saves them to his phone without looking at them and then deletes them after,” the charging document states. A subsequent review of the Filipino citi- zen’s other phone revealed videos of children as young as 9 years old engaging in sexual acts, the court documents say. Neri was booked into the Broward Sher- iff’s Office Main Jail on a charge of transpor- tation and possession of child pornography. He is currently under a U.S. Marshals hold. The two prior Disney Cruise worker ar- rests came in close succession in January. Both of the men had been on federal agents’ radar after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported that they had downloaded obscene child images. Amiel Joseph Trazo, a 28-year-old Fili- pino Disney Dream ship worker, was arrested on child porn charges after investigators said they found material depicting child sexual abuse on his devices when the ship arrived at Port Everglades on January 17. Court documents state that videos and photos from the man’s iPhone 15 Pro Max in- cluded graphic scenes involving children be- tween the ages of 6 and 14. He was also a member of a group chat and Facebook mes- senger chats, where he would receive links and sexually explicit images of underage chil- dren, according to a federal affidavit. “[Trazo] stated that he shared these im- ages on Facebook Messenger with his friends and a girlfriend in order to ‘tease’ them,” the criminal affidavit states. “The defendant also admitted that he ‘needs help, knows it’s wrong, and it is bad for his religion.’” Trazo was booked into the Paul Rein De- tention Facility in Pompano Beach, where he remains jailed under an immigration hold and U.S. Marshals hold. His arrest came to light when New Times obtained a February federal charging document filed against him. In a search of a Disney Cruise ship docked at Port Everglades several days later, investi- gators discovered child porn on another crew member’s Sandisk Micro SD memory card, according to an arrest report. Alvin Gonzales was arrested on January 31 and charged with one count of child porn possession. His arrest paperwork alleges Gonzalez had a video de- picting two children engaging in a sexual act. News reports did not mention which ship Gonzales worked on. However, Disney Dream and Disney Magic were the only ships with voyages in and out of Port Everglades listed at the time. Online court records indicate the Broward State Attorney’s Office filed “no information” on the case, meaning prosecutors did not pur- sue the charge. His public defender obtained an order for his release in March. Unlike the other defendants’ cases, the ille- gal material found on Gonzales’ device was purportedly limited to a single file, which the state attorney’s office did not find sufficient to sustain the charge. Gonzalez had told investi- gators he received the file eight to ten years ago and had no interest in child pornography. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS The Disney Dream ship in Castaway Cay, Bahamas in 2013. Three Disney Cruise Line employees have been arrested this year on charges of child pornography. Tirso Neri booked into the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on April 15 on child porn charges Flickr via Matthew Paulson ▼ MIAMI LOST & FOUND UBER NAMES MIAMI MOST FORGETFUL U.S. CITY. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN M iamians and visitors to the Magic City apparently have a problem keeping an eye on their prized possessions when riding in the back of an Uber. Miami is the “most forgetful” city, according to the 2024 Uber Lost & Found Index, which pro- vides a snapshot of the most surprising and pop- ular items left behind in Uber vehicles over the last year. Orlando and Tampa Bay are the two other Florida cities to crack the top ten. In the eighth edition of the index, the most commonly forgotten items include clothing, lug- gage, headphones, wallets, and jewelry, to name a few. Unsurprisingly, vapes rounded out the top ten. Uber says riders also left behind their mobile Wi-Fi routers and healing crystals like purple amethysts. Among the more unique items left behind in Ubers in cities across the country were, as de- scribed by riders: a frontal hair toupee, two con- tainers containing spiders, a pet turtle, a paternity test, a burrito steamer, a fart sensor, a poster of Hillary Clinton, and a “small box con- taining a gnome.” As far as food, some notable forgotten items include “a fly ass burrito,” Benihana garlic butter, a whole smoked pork belly, and a cooler filled with meat. One Uber customer reported the ur- gent need to recover some very valuable fruit. “I left expensive blueberries that are special that I need that the store is completely out of. There’s two packages that I absolutely need,” the passenger told Uber. Rounding out the five most forgetful cit- ies for Uber passengers were Los Angeles, At- lanta, Houston, and Dallas, in that order. “We saw a few new forgetfulness trends this year: Miami was the most forgetful city, red was the most lost color, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. are when most folks report lost items, and January 21st was the most forgetful day,” Uber said upon re- leasing the index. Miami moved up from its sixth spot on Uber’s 2023 list of most forgetful cities. Last year, Jack- sonville topped the rankings, followed by San Antonio and Palm Springs, California. Do not fret if you left your framed autograph from Taylor Swift, a pan of chicken spaghetti, a tub of surgical implants, or your “wizard woman” in an Uber. There is a chance you could be reunited with your valuable possessions by visiting the help page on the Uber app and calling your driver. [email protected] ORLANDO AND TAMPA BAY ARE THE TWO OTHER FLORIDA CITIES TO CRACK THE TOP TEN. Broward Sheriff’s Office photo
