A cruise ship employee has been accused of sexually exploiting a 16-year-old girl he met on board while she was vacationing with her family and using her to film child pornography, according to federal prosecutors.
The employee, 38-year-old Daniel Scott Crow from Stuart, Florida, met the girl on an Alaskan cruise in July 2019. The two contact information while on the cruise, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release.
Prosecutors allege that Crow remained in contact with the victim, sending her sexually explicit messages and soliciting lewd photographs from her using a messaging app.
Crow Allegedly Filmed Sexual Encounter with the Teen
In May 2020, Crow arranged a meeting to have sex with the victim, who was still under 18 at the time, at a Stuart hotel. The pair engaged in sexual acts and Crow recorded the encounter, according to the charging documents.
Crow's defense attorney was not publicly listed. He faces charges of coercion or enticement of a female and production of visual depictions involving sexual exploitation of minors, according to court records. He could face life in prison if convicted of the crime.
Prosecutors said Crow stored the recordings and lewd images on his phone. Neither the charging documents nor a U.S. Department of Justice news release specify Crow's employer or the ship the two met on. Crow made his initial appearance in federal court in Fort Pierce Wednesday and a detention hearing is scheduled for Friday.
This is not the first time a cruise ship employee has been arrested for engaging in sexual activity with a minor. In 2012, a Royal Caribbean employee was charged with sexual abuse of a minor after he had sex with a teenage girl on board a cruise ship that departed from Maryland, Texas.. The victim was a 14-year-old girl who was travelling with her family.
