A Carnival Cruise Ship employee was arrested Saturday and charged with sexual battery of a person under 16 years of age along with lewd and lascivious molestation, according to USA Today.
Yovany Suazo Batiz, a 46-year-old stateroom ward from Honduran, was taken into custody Saturday evening after having an incident with one of the teenage passengers, authorities say.
The Brevard County Sheriff's Office was contacted by the cruise ship's security team, who received the initial complaint from the teen's father, Florida Today reported. The special victim's and crime scene units responded to the call and met up with the ship after it docked at Port Canaveral Saturday morning.
Tod Goodyear, a sheriff's office spokesman, said that Batiz allegedly tried to strike up a conversation with the teen in the ship sauna on Friday, but things escalated when the teen tried to get away from Batiz by fleeing to the showers. According to Goodyear, that's when the inappropriate sexual conduct began.
Aly Bello-Cabreriza, a Carnival spokeswoman, said that Batiz, like all crewmembers aboard the ship, undergoes background checks and is issued the appropriate seaman's visa.
Batiz was booked at Brevard County Jail and is being held on a $95,000 bond, according to WFTV.
