Not a good thing at Disney World

[garym053]

I agree with the innocent until proven guilty bunch! I think this really smells of a money grab! Eight days, then BOTH mother AND daughter saying they were fondled. If it was JUST the daughter I might say she was scared, but both???
I am also sure that there are so many extortion attempts against DW and others that that is one of the reason's many of these get to be hushed! If someone fondled my daughter at 13, there would be no way they'd be able to hush it up! You can ONLY hush up something IF BOTH parties agree to it! Such as in lucrative pay-off!

[gsm x2]

Innocent until proven guilty.....YES
 
13yr not reporting......YES
 
mother not reporting for 8 days......NO
 
Especially in these times, I would have opened my mouth immediately, if not doing something as soon as he touched me.

Maybe Mom was feeling Goofy!!!

[4campinfoxes]

I too am pretty sceptical about this situation.  It certainly can't take 8 days to figure out someone groped you.  I would bet if there was a picture of this mom you'd see the $$ signs in her eyes.  Unfortunately with this kind of charge many people consider the person accused "guilty until they can prove innocence" and that can be difficult to prove.

[CAPEd CODger]

Do the words "Innocent until proven quilty" have any meaning in America?

I thought they did.
 
Especially when the eight-day factor is factored in.
 
gsm x2

They used to. Not anymore. Public opinion and money are the determining factors today.
Once the press gets ahold of something, watch out! They will milk it (no pun intended) to death.
"Send lawyers, guns, and money..."   Warren Zevon

[AustinBoston]

Until a few years ago Disney didn't even do background checks on their new employees.

Try until about 20 years ago.  I've had family members hired to collect garbage, drive monorail, drive busses, work gift shops, waitress restaurants, and hostess restaurants for Disney, and they had background checks done.  The earliest were the garbage collectors.  That was in 1985.

I have enough family working for the mouse (sister-in-law, three brothers-in-law, and two of their ex-wives), and been there enough to know that there is NO WAY this incident actually happened.

Disney characters are always accompanied by at least two non-character assistants (when in groups, there is one assitant per character plus one), and the employees who are "in character" have impecable records with thorough background checks.  The waiting list to play those parts is a mile long.

This is a family that spent 8 days convincing their daughter of what to say so they could file a big bucks lawsuit.

Another alternative is that all kinds of people visit Disney, including troubled adults with troubled children.

Both of these happen from time to time.  

I don't know for certain (the final deals are always secret), but my suspicion is that Disney will give them an offer of some amount of money (much less than they are asking for) to go away.  If they don't take it, they will show them all of their defensive evidence (enough to prove that they are lying) and say "take the money or we'll file charges against you."  End of incident.

Austin

[NightOwl]

Sorry Ma'am, I just dont believe you and your daughter!   It sure wouldnt take ME or my DD's  EIGHT DAYS to realize we had been "fondled!"  

Birol, I think I need to adopt you.  You are a goshdarned creative genius and write WONDERFUL scripts!  :W :S

[MommaMia]

"Neither reacted at the time, but the girl later told her parents she had been fondled, and eight days later the family filed a report with the Orange County Sheriff."

It doesn't say that it took them 8 days to realize that they had been touched.  They both realized it that they, themselves had been touched.  Neither reacted when it happened. Then they both realized that the other had been touched.  It was 8 days later that The FATHER and DAUGHTER made a report to the police.  
Consider for a moment that they may have been consulting with an attorney in the meantime and quite possibly had been in contact with WDW before they made the official police report.  I wonder why the mother was not involved in making the report?

UPDATED (as Posted April 2, 2004 in the Orlando Sentinel)
'Tigger' arrested on molestation charges

Costumed character at Disney World charged with fondling girl, mother.

By Anthony Colarossi | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 2, 2004, 4:49 PM EST

     
 
 


 
Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators have arrested a Walt Disney World employee who worked as the character "Tigger" and charged him with molesting a 13-year-old girl and her mother while posing with them for pictures in February.

Michael Chartrand, 36, was charged with one count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between 12 and 15 years old and one count of simple battery.

He was booked into the Orange County Jail today on a $2,500 bond.

A Disney spokeswoman said Chartrand has been suspended without pay.

The sheriff's office received a complaint that a costumed character at Disney World had touched a girl and her mother inappropriately while their pictures were being taken with the character Feb. 21. According to an incident report, Chartrand fondled the breasts of the girl and the mother while posing for pictures at the Magic Kingdom's Toon Town.

"As the photo was being taken, [the victim] claims that Tigger moved his right hand up to her right breast and started massaging it several times," the incident report states. [The victim] became very embarrassed and ashamed of the incident and claims that she did not say anything to her mother until they left the park."

Later, the girl learned that the costumed character had done the same thing to her mother with his left hand, the report says.

In a charging affadavit filed in court, police wrote that Chartrand told them he had trouble remembering things, but was "very sorry for everything that had occurred," and hoped the victim would forgive him for what he had done.

The girl and her father reported the incident on Feb. 29.

[NightOwl]

well, all I can say is that this is a very serious charge and IF this guy had been employed  playing this character  for very long, it is surprising--if this is the kind of thing he liked to do--that he wasnt caught before.

Believe me, if this had happened to one of my kids they'd probably have yelled "hey, you pervert get your *&!@%! hand off me!" right there in front of everyone and made an ugly, emarrassing scene, but if this girl was of a quite shy nature, then her behaviour was probably in character.

And yes, Cindy, the 8 day lapse could well have been because of pondering what to do and consulting various legal options.

the truth is, we really need to keep in mind that our law says "innocent until proven guilty" and at times like this, when a child is involved, it is not always easy to remember  this.

[MommaMia]

the truth is, we really need to keep in mind that our law says "innocent until proven guilty"

I, personally, can't stand this phrase.  I wish it would read "innocent, UNLESS proven guilty".  

The word UNTIL gives the impression that the person is guilty that the  proof of guilt is there, just not yet found.  

The word UNLESS implies that the person is innocent unless facts pointing to guilty are found and proven, which there may not even be.

[AustinBoston]

"As the photo was being taken, [the victim] claims that Tigger moved his right hand up to her right breast and started massaging it several times," the incident report states. [The victim] became very embarrassed and ashamed of the incident and claims that she did not say anything to her mother until they left the park."

There may have been a juxtaposition that showed up in the photo, so they decided to take advantage of it.  That's why it took 8 days, they took a week to get their film done.

In a charging affadavit filed in court, police wrote that Chartrand told them he had trouble remembering things, but was "very sorry for everything that had occurred," and hoped the victim would forgive him for what he had done.

I've seen enough to know that 1) What he said and what the police claim he said are not necessarily the same thing 2) what the afidavit said and what the press quoted were not necessarily the same thing 3) without a full quote, it's easy to misunderstand what he really meant.  If he did nothing at all wrong, I suspect he'd still be "sorry for everything that had occurred."

Austin

[MommaMia]

quote the Orlando Sentinel...

"As the photo was being taken, [the victim] claims that Tigger moved his right hand up to her right breast and started massaging it several times," the incident report states. [The victim] became very embarrassed and ashamed of the incident and claims that she did not say anything to her mother until they left the park."

end quote


If this happened as the photo was being taken, didn't the person who was looking through the view finder of the camera notice Tiggers hand moving up and down over the mother and daughter's breasts?!?!  Wouldn't that have most likely been the father taking that picture?  Hmmmm

[mowalker]

Since I will be heading out to Disney to camp at the highly acclaimed Fort Wilderness, I will make it a point to visit the parks.  If I run into Tigger or any of the other Disney cartoon folk and get my photo taken I will post it here since I am now censored all over the place.

Thank you,

Janet Jackson
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HE HE, just kidding :J

It's really me Bree  :W and if that would happen to me we may have to open the forums up to the "bang bang shot him up topic"

Since I live here in Florida and have a good friend who's husband works for Disney (sorry, even I dont get a discount :mad: ) .  Yes, oddly enough some things are swept under a small rug, since most people are looking for a small claims lawsuit that is easily settled out of court.  HOWEVER, if a crime is commited no matter what, it must be reported and the laws of justice take over.  If you know of a matter that was not handled correctly, such as the Disney staff did not handle it in reporting it properly by calling in the authorities.   Buy all means report it to the Florida States Attorneys office first.  Unless that is you are in it for the $$. There are billboards all the way home for attorneys waiting for your case.  Just give them a ring.  :rolleyes:

I believe real criminals need to go to jail, not have thier bosses or taxpayers pay for thier crimes. :confused:

Now thats the real.

B

Have fun out there and keep safe :U

[birol]

Could it be that the guy is little bit, "slow" and would say I am sorry whatever it is I did to cause all this ? This whole thing might just as well be beyond his comprehension ..... Or maybe he is need of some good prison threapy ! It is a shame we will never really know whether he is guilty or not ....

[B-flat]

Maybe it is really that big costume with the big paws......

[birol]

Those costumes are soo huge anyways, how would one feel something through it

Maybe it is really that big costume with the big paws......