A Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship employee has been arrested at the port of Los Angeles, California and charges with 13 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, according to a release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Theodore Burbank Pappas, Jr., age 47, was arrested by the Los Angeles Port Police and is currently being held at the Los Angeles Police Department Detention Facility with no bond. He will be extradited to Florida and prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, Fourth Judicial Circuit.
A review of the booking information show that Pappas was arrested at 8:30 a.m. on April 4, 2025, and then booked at the Los Angeles County Jail on the afternoon of the same day. On April 4th, 2025, the Norwegian Bliss was the only NCL cruise ship to arrive in Los Angeles, for a 5-night Mexican Riviera cruise.
FDLE says they began investigating Pappas in 2023 when agents received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children which had flagged an online account, registered to Pappas, uploading files with images of children being sexually abused, according to FDLE.
In addition to the child sexual abuse material charges, Pappas is also charged with one count each of transmission of child sexual abuse material and unlawful use of a two-way communication device (i.e., a cell phone), which are all felonies.
FDLE obtained an arrest warrant and the Los Angeles Port Police arrested Pappas on April 4th. He is currently being held at the Los Angeles Police Department Detention Facility without bond, awaiting extradition to Florida.
Last year, there were at least 17 arrests of crew members for possession of child pornography / sexual abuse materials involving a number of cruise lines. Crew members from six companies were arrested on child pornography charges: Carnival – 7; Royal Caribbean – 4; Disney – 3; Celebrity – 1; Holland America Line – 1: and World Explorer -1.
In the past, we have referred to these type of cases as involving “child pornography” as opposed to “child sexual abuse materials.” While the term child pornography is still widely used by the public, it’s more accurate to call it what it is: evidence of child sexual abuse. That’s why many organizations stopped using the term child pornography and switched to referring to it as CSAM — child sexual abuse materials. We will now refer to these cases as involving “child sexual abuse materials.” As one sexual assault victim organization explained:
“While some of the pornography online depicts adults who have consented to be filmed, that’s never the case when the images depict children. Just as kids can’t legally consent to sex, they can’t consent to having images of their abuse recorded and distributed. Every explicit photo or video of a kid is actually evidence that the child has been a victim of sexual abuse.”
April 9, 2025 Update:
We have learned that Pappas worked as the “Head of Broadcast” (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.”
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Image credit: Norwegian Bliss – Sea Cow CC BY-SA 4.0, commons / wikimedia; Child Sexual Abuse Materials Image – Addressing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): A Comprehensive Perspective.