A 28 year-old man was arrested this past weekend in Port Everglades on charges of raping a 20 year-old woman on the Freedom of the Seas, according to local News 10. At the time of the arrest, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship had just returned to port in Fort Lauderdale from a seven day cruise to the Bahamas, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands.
Juan Campos was booked into jail in Fort Lauderdale following the arrest. Campos’s criminal defense lawyer told the press that “it sounds like they were making out, it started going a little too far, when the lady said ‘stop,’ when she verbally expressed ‘stop,’ he stopped.” The attorney claimed that “it was a normal cruise, he was with friends, they met some people on board and next thing you know, he’s charged with this crime.” The defense lawyer bizarrely claimed that the police report contained no reference to “force or violence” otherwise “they would have charged it with force or using violence.” Of course, as we all know, the crime of rape does not require force or violence but only a lack of consent. The arrest report indicated that the victim was allegedly penetrated with an unknown object against her will, stating “in the feeling of pain, the victim placed her hands on the defendant’s shoulders, pushed him and told him to stop and it hurts.”
The crime data reported by Royal Caribbean to the FBI pursuant to the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act indicates that there were at least ten rapes and sexual assaults alleged on its ships during the first two quarters of this year.
Sexual assaults, including rape, are the most reported crimes on cruise ships.
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Image credit: Juan Campos, arrest report, and screen grab – Local 10 News; Freedom of the Seas – Beyond My Ken – CC BY-SA 4.0 commons wikimedia.
September 4, 2024 Update:
The Miami Herald contains additional information (“At one point, Campos was on top of her and unbuttoned her shorts, the report states. He then penetrated her with something against her will, deputies say. The woman tried pushing Campos off of her, even telling that ‘it hurts’ and to ‘stop,’ according to the report. Campos, however, continued and attempted to turn her over to sexually assault her but was unable to do so, deputies added.”) as well as a denial by Campos’ defense lawyer (“Campos’ attorney, Ed Hoeg, said in an email to the Herald that his client is not guilty, and there are witnesses who will dispute the alleged victim’s version of events.”)