A Tennessee man was finally arrested after he assaulted a teenager on the Carnival Mardi Gras on November 22, 2025. The man, Orlando R. Hughes, 43, was first arrested in Tennessee by Mt. Juliet Police on May 14, 2026 as “a fugitive from justice,” and then booked in Brevard County, Florida on May 24, a full six months after the assault.
According to the Brevard County arrest records, Hughes picked up and pushed a Carnival employee out of his way, then struck the teenage victim multiple times in the face and strangled him. The victim, who is not identified because he is a minor, suffered “great bodily harm,” including a laceration to his left eye that required stitches.
Hughes is charged with aggravated child abuse. He entered a not guilty plea and was released after bond was set at $25,000 on May 25, 2026.
Hughes is due in court on August 4, 2026.
The incident occurred in the ship’s Club O2, a lounge marketed as a place to hang out for high schoolers 15 to 17 years old. The ship’s captain sent passengers a letter after the assault, confirming an incident occurred in the teen club and that the man was confined to his cabin.
The letter also encouraged passengers to delete any videos of the assault, claiming they had ample CCTV footage of the incident.
Despite the claim of having CCTV footage evidence, Hughes was not arrested when he disembarked from the Carnival Mardi Gras early in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
Carnival Cruise Line previously said in a statement to Cruise Law News, “There was an incident between two guests onboard Carnival’s Mardi Gras over the weekend. The individual involved, along with his family, has been disembarked.”
Why Carnival let Hughes off the ship early at a non-U.S. port and allowed him to return home to Tennessee is unclear. Hughes should have remained under the ship security’s supervision until the ship returned to Port Canaveral, Florida, where he should have been handed over to local law enforcement. It is deeply unfair to the minor victim and his family that they had to live in limbo not knowing if or when justice would be brought.
This is not the first time a passenger has disembarked from a Carnival ship and not been arrested after committing a crime. Earlier in May, an Iowa woman was arrested a month and a half after punching and breaking a teenager’s nose on the Carnival Sunshine.
Cruise lines are legally required to report certain crimes, including physical assaults with serious bodily injury, to the FBI pursuant to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010. Yet, Carnival reported no assaults with serious bodily injury to the FBI during Q4 2025 despite this incident occurring during the reporting period and the arrest records stating the victim suffered “great bodily harm.”
Carnival has a track record of underreporting crimes on its ships, particularly physical assaults, as evident when they reported only 3 crimes in Q4 2025 despite there being 5 publicly reported crimes during that time period.
Carnival historically has the most physical assaults and batteries with serious physical injuries on a per capita basis than any other cruise line despite their underreporting. In 2024, Carnival had a total of eighteen (18) physical assaults with serious injuries — an average of over 4 a quarter. In 2023, there were a total of 22 violent physical assaults with serious injury across the cruise industry, and Carnival alone accounted for 14 of those incidents.
Have a comment or question? Please leave one below or join the discussion on our Facebook page.