Sexual Assault at Universal Studios

[ah schucks]

A case where impersonating an employee of the park is not a laughing matter for the litter box.

Originally Posted by (AP)

Woman claims sexual assault at Universal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ORLANDO — Authorities were searching for a man Thursday, who allegedly dragged a woman into a hallway at Universal Studios and sexually assaulted her.

The 32-year-old woman, whose name was not released, told police she was attacked by a man she thought was an employee at the park at 6:20 p.m. Wednesday.

She told police she was waiting in line at Revenge of the Mummy the Ride and asked the man for information about the ride. She said he asked her to follow him, later grabbing and dragging her into a hallway, said Orlando police Lt. Darryl Braunskill.

The woman said she was able to escape and that no intercourse occurred, but that she was assaulted while he held her down. The woman was not from Florida, Braunskill said.

The suspect also allegedly grabbed the back of her head and repeatedly banged her forehead into the ground, a police report said.

The woman had minor abrasions on her forehead, Orlando Police Sgt. Barbara Jones told the Orlando Sentinel.

Police said they don’t know if the suspect is a Universal Studios employee.

Universal Orlando spokesman Tom Schroder said the park was cooperating fully with the investigation.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well being of our guests,” Schroder said. “We want our guests to be safe and feel safe while they’re here

[filmfreak11]

I my goodness, that's insane. I hope she's doing better.

[kcnole]

I hope they find whoever did this and put him away for a long time.

[Kaye]

I hope they catch this creep..

They should start thinking of a better way to identify park employees.

[Moonliner]

Why the immediate assumptions that the creep is not an employee?

Especially when the quoted article clearly says the police don't know if he is an employee or not.

[Alice's Wonderland]

That's so scary! I hope they find him!

[Disneyland Daddy]

Originally Posted by ah schucks

A case where impersonating an employee of the park is not a laughing matter for the litter box.

Originally Posted by I_luv_Disney

I hope they catch this creep..

They should start thinking of a better way to identify park employees.

IF the lady thought it was an employee, what made her think he might have been? Was he wearing a Universal uniform that would make him look like an employee? And if he was wearing one and wasn't an employee, how did he get his hands on it? Maybe the uniforms are allowed OFF THE PARK PROPERTY????
........hmm.......this too is an argument I have had about Disneyland costumes as well. If they leave the property it could make it that much easier for 'someone else' to get their hands on it....

Just some food for thought.

[PirateMickey]

/\

Yeah, I'm sure the guy stole the uniform while it was thrown over the seat in a CM's car...


It's terrible that an attack took place.

Hopefully, they'll have security camera footage to ID the guy.

At least it's in Florida, if it was in CA, even if they did get the guy, not much would happen to him. Our lovely court system...

[Disneyland Daddy]

Originally Posted by PirateMickey

/\

Yeah, I'm sure the guy stole the uniform while it was thrown over the seat in a CM's car...


It's terrible that an attack took place.

Hopefully, they'll have security camera footage to ID the guy.

At least it's in Florida, if it was in CA, even if they did get the guy, not much would happen to him. Our lovely court system...

Once it leaves the property - who knows WHERE it could be gotten.
No need for sarcasm.

[TikiRoomLiz]

Regardless if he was an employee or not, it does remind a person never to go off alone with strangers ... even if you're an adult.

[Disneyland Daddy]

Originally Posted by Stitch74

Regardless if he was an employee or not, it does remind a person never to go off alone with strangers ... even if you're an adult.

Right on. For instance, if we ever need to get some groceries at night, I usually go - my wife doesn't need to be out there at night - you never know what freak is out there - even when there ARE people around. Either I go or we go together (or the 3 of us now).

[EagleWings]

Yikes that's scary but I never woulda followed the guy in the first place, not alone.

[ah schucks]

I saw a package last night while writing the news and thats why I wanted to bring this to the attention on the board. According to the reporter, the man was wearing some sort of costume that made him seem like an employee of the ride.

It is my feeling that Disney does an excellent job in this regard in terms of financial insentives designed to curb the loss of costumes by CMs who might otherwise leak them into the public.

In non-disney parks where costumes often lack it may have been easy for a person to impersonate an official.

Part of me believes the individual was not an employee because once you've worked in a park you can't help but be overly aware of cameras.

However the person did seem to know that the exit door and hallway would be empty providing an opportunity for the attack.

The suspect was not caught as of the time that I wrote this post.

[aimster]

If I was waiting in line for a ride and someone asked me to follow them I sure wouldn't. What was this lady thinking?! I'm not trying to blame her but there was some stupidity on her part in this.

[blazingsnowstorm]

I know that in order to take home a costume at Universal Studios you have to have proof that you *need* to take care of the costume at home for allergy or medical reasons.

The person would have to have access to someone like that, or access himself.

Also, Universal, like Disney, has high costs to cover lost or stolen clothes from employees. It's almost identical the way they track the clothes and who checks them out.

All Universal employees wear nametags, even management who is also required to show their ID clipped to their clothes. If the person was wearing a polo shirt, dress slacks and dress shoes like I read in one of the articles it sounds like the assumed this person was a supervisor of some kind.

Just my theory.