On April 8, 2025, we reported on the arrest of a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) crew member on the Norwegian Bliss who was apprehended at the port of Los Angeles at 8:30 a.m. on April 4th for possession and transmission of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) stated in a press release that its investigation began almost two years ago (on July 24, 2023), “when agents received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children (NCMEC) about an online account uploading files depicting children being sexually abused.” FDLE stated that the uploads of child sexual abuse materials (probably videos) “originated from Pappa’s account that is registered in Nassau County (FL), and that Pappas was employed by Norwegian Cruise Line.”
NCL has released very limited information about its pedophile ship employee working on its cruise ship. It released this cursory statement in response to an inquiry from USA TODAY about the arrest:
“The employee was dismissed from the company with a Do Not Rehire status as we have zero tolerance for this behavior.”
NCL is not revealing the pervert’s job title, how long he worked for NCL, or the possibility that he has videos of children who sailed on NCL cruise ships. We have inquired whether any NCL crew members know his job title or have access to any photographs of him.
Several NCL ship employees responded. All wish to remain anonymous fearing reprisal from NCL for speaking with our firm. We have learned that Pappas worked as the “Head of Broadcast” (i.e., a broadcast technician) aboard NCL’s Norwegian Bliss cruise ship. A colleague of his on the ship wrote: “This is truly horrifying — this man was onboard with unfettered access to children and Wi-Fi (in his position as head of broadcast he had more access to WiFi than regular crew) for the entire time he was under investigation.”
One of his colleagues provided us with a link to his Facebook page. He goes by “Banks Pappas” (Theo) and uses the photograph below on his home page.
We are in the process of obtaining a copy of the court file in Florida (where he will be prosecuted for his sex crimes), as we were unable to obtain any records or even a mug shot from the criminal and police files in Los Angeles.
We are still trying to determine how long Pappas worked aboard NCL cruise ships or whether he worked for other cruise lines in the past. If you have this information, we promise to protect your anonymity and will not reveal your identity under any circumstance.
April 16, 2025 Update:
I’m told by a reliable source (a P&O Australia crew member) that Pappas “worked for P&O Australia as well. He was video manager and made the cruise video back in the day. He was fired in 2012.”
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Image credit: Child Sexual Abuse Materials Image – Addressing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): A Comprehensive Perspective; Theodore Burbank Pappas, Jr., – Facebook.