3 December 14-20, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ BROWARD SEA WOLF CRUISE YOUTH COUNSELOR ADMITS TO MOLESTING CHILDREN ABOARD A CELEBRITY SHIP. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN A cruise ship youth counselor admitted to sexually abusing multiple children aboard Ce- lebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Sil- houette after a 6-year-old came forward and reported him for inappro- priately touching her while she played a video game at the ship’s youth center in late November, according to an FBI affidavit ob- tained by New Times. Cris John Pentinio Castor is charged with abusive sexual contact with a minor in Miami federal court. The FBI says he abused the 6-year-old victim while he was working at the youth center on the ship, which departed from Port Everglades on November 20 and made stops in St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Tobago, Grenada, and Antigua before returning on November 30. During his interview with law enforce- ment about the incident, the FBI says, Castor admitted “he knowingly touched the minor victim in the vicinity of her vagina.” Castor, who had worked as a counselor for the ship’s Camp at Sea program since August, allegedly told FBI investigators he molested at least three other minor children while they were visiting the center. “Castor...admitted to the inappropriate sexual touching of other minor children that were in his care at the Youth Center, on multi- ple occasions, while consciously hiding his acts from the Youth Center’s security cam- eras,” wrote an investigator with the FBI’s Miami-based Extra-Territorial Violent Crimes Squad. Shortly after the child’s parents picked her up from the youth center on November 27, she returned with them to report the sexual assault, which occurred that morning, the affidavit says. “Minor victim proceeded to tell the Pro- gram Manager that ‘CJ,’ as Castor was known to crew members and Youth Center children, had inappropriately touched her ‘private parts,’” according to the affidavit. When the ship arrived back at Port Everglades three days later, the child reiterated her account, telling a forensic interviewer that Castor touched her underneath her clothes. Security footage from November 27 showed the young girl and Castor, 35, sitting next to each other as he reached over into her lap. Castor’s public defender, Robert Berube, declined to comment. Celebrity Silhouette is operated by Celebrity Cruises, which is owned by the Royal Caribbean Group. In a statement to New Times, a Celebrity Cruises spokesperson said the company “has zero tolerance for this behavior.” “We reported this to law enforcement and terminated the crew member,” the statement reads. “We will continue to fully cooperate with authorities.” Celebrity has a global fleet of 16 ships with cruise destinations spanning from Thailand to Greece to Bermuda. Between 2010 and 2022, nearly 70 percent of reported sexual assaults (including passen- ger-on-passenger assaults) on U.S. cruises oc- curred on ships owned by Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean, which have the largest market share of passengers in the cruise industry by a wide margin at 42 per- cent and 23 percent, respectively, as of 2021. New Times reported in 2019 that sexual assaults were the most frequently reported felony crime on cruises and that cruise lines repeatedly tried to cover up incidents. Federal court records show Royal Caribbean has been sued twice over the last seven months over separate incidents in which crew members were accused of sexually assaulting adult passengers. Both incidents occurred on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas ship. Miami attorney Mark Schweikert tells New Times that the stigma faced by sex abuse victims and their families can create a significant barrier in exposing se- rial predators. “Victims, in general, face a lot of skepti- cism. There tends to be a lot of rush to judg- ment, to disbelief, while crediting the abuser. That’s something we tried to change and are still trying to change,” says Schweikert, who is not involved in the Royal Caribbean cases. In 2021, Schweikert secured a verdict against the Miami-Dade County School Board in favor of a client abused by Miami Palmetto Senior High School teacher Jason Meyers, who was accused of inappropriate contact with students dating back more than a decade and is now serving a prison sentence on statutory rape charges. “It’s all too common: when there’s one vic- tim, there tends to be many. When victims come forward and find the courage to fight back, it’s the best way to hold institutions ac- countable,” Schweikert says. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS A 6-year-old passenger aboard the Celebrity Silhouette says the ship’s youth counselor inappropriately touched her. Photo by Arvid Olson/Flickr ▼ PLANTATION EAT THE EVIDENCE POLICE SAY KODAK BLACK STUFFED COCAINE IN HIS MOUTH DURING A RECENT TRAFFIC STOP. BY ALEX DELUCA K odak Black has been arrested yet again — this time on charges of drug posses- sion and evidence tampering after he gobbled cocaine while trying to conceal it during a traffic stop, according to a police report. The 26-year-old Broward native, whose real name is Bill Kapri, was arrested in Plantation on December 7 and booked into Broward County’s main jail. According to the arrest affidavit, at around 2 a.m., Plantation police noticed a black Bentley SUV parked in the roadway at Park East Park in Plantation with its tail lights on, blocking traffic. Upon approaching Kapri’s driver-side door, an officer noticed his window halfway down and Kapri asleep inside, stewing in a strong odor of burnt cannabis, the affidavit states. The officer found a Styrofoam cup inside the door handle that reeked of alcohol, as well as weed-rolling papers and residue inside the car’s center console, the report says. When asked whether there were any weapons in the vehicle, Kapri allegedly advised the officer that there was only cannabis. While reviewing the rapper’s driver’s license information, the officer suddenly noticed white powder falling from Kapri, who had his back turned to the cop, according to the affidavit. “I exited the vehicle and noticed Kapri’s mouth was full of white powder,” the officer wrote, noting he believed Kapri was attempting to hide the drug from police. The officer placed Kapri in handcuffs and ob- served white rock-like substances on the ground, which Kapri uttered was “Percocet.” The affidavit states it field-tested positive for cocaine. Roughly four grams of coke were recovered from the scene, police say. The Broward Sheriff’s Office listed Kapri’s bond as pending as of 3:30 p.m. As previously re- ported by New Times, Kapri has faced a long list of criminal charges throughout his rap career. The rapper, per- haps best known in Broward and beyond for his hit songs “No Flockin,” “Tunnel Vision,” and “Zeze,” was charged with a sex crime in February 2016 after he was accused of biting and sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel in Florence County, South Carolina, after a concert. In 2021, on his final full day in office, then- president Donald Trump commuted Kapri’s sen- tence on a weapons charge arising from admittedly false information that Kapri submit- ted on paperwork for a 2019 gun purchase. Kapri was serving a roughly four-year prison sentence when Trump freed him. Kapri and fellow rapper Lil Wayne were among more than 140 people who were granted pardons or had their sen- tences commuted by the outgoing president. Kapri later secured a deal with South Carolina prosecutors in the sexual assault case, receiving 18 months probation and no further jail time. Back in Broward, Kapri was charged with fel- ony trafficking and drug possession in July 2022 after Florida Highway Patrol pulled him over and allegedly found dozens of oxycodone pills and $74,000 in cash. He was served an arrest war- rant in June after he missed a meeting with pre- trial services in the still-pending case. [email protected] “I EXITED THE VEHICLE AND NOTICED KAPRI’S MOUTH WAS FULL OF WHITE POWDER.”
