Two Princess crew members, including a deputy cruise director, sentenced to over 45 years in prison for child pornography and sex programmes

Two crew members employed by Princess Cruises on an Alaskan cruise ship in the summer of 2019 will now serve decades in prison for their involvement in the creation and/or distribution of child pornography. One of the men met a sixteen (16) year old child who was on an Alaskan cruise with his parents while he was working as an assistant cruise director. He repeatedly texted and called the minor after she left the cruise and later arranged to meet her at a hotel, where he filmed having sex with the girl.

Daniel Crow—Princess Assistant Cruise Director

Daniel Scott Crow, who was employed by Princess Cruises as Assistant Cruise Director, was sentenced late last year by Florida Southern District Judge Jose Martinez to thirty (30) years in prison for inducing an underage child to have sex with him having and engaging in sex production of child pornography. Crow was thirty-five (35) years old when he met the sixteen (16) year-old child while cruising on an unidentified Princess Cruises ship in July 2019. A press release Department of Justice (DOJ) lays out the basic facts of the disturbing sex crimes committed by Crowe.

Angelo Fernandes – Member of the Princess Crew

A second member of the Princess crew, Angelo Victor Fernandes, from India, aged 34, worked on the same Princess cruise ship as Crow. Fernandes was friends with Crow and the two men discussed “having children for sex.” Fernandes admitted to federal agents at his arrest that he was sexually attracted to Crow and sent him sexually explicit videos and child pornography in exchange for videos of Crow masturbating. The two crew members discussed traveling to sexually abuse children as young as five. Judge Aileen Cannon of the Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., last week sentenced Fernandes to 188 months (over 15 1/2 years) in prison. A press release of the DOJ lays out the basic facts of the crimes committed by Fernandes.

The name of the Princess cruise ship was not disclosed in the court filings, although there is an affidavit showing crew member Fernandes worked on the ship coral princess cruise lines back in 2013. Princess refused to provide any information or background information about the crimes committed by her ship employees.

The crew members exchanged graphic child pornography and discussed violent child sexual abuse

Portions of criminal files against Crow (United States of America vs. Daniel Scott CrowFile number 22-cr-14035) and Fernandes (United States of America vs. Fernandes, case number 22-cr-14046) were sealed by the courts. A number of files were not classified and revealed statements by Crow that he was employed as an assistant cruise director on a Princess Cruises ship. (He previously worked for Royal Caribbean). Crow met the child as “entertainer for children on the cruise”. He first informed the girl that company rules prohibited him from dealing with guests, so he exchanged Instagram handles and phone numbers with the girl. After the cruise, he texted the child daily via WhatsApp asking for photos and videos of her naked and masturbating.

Crow arranged to meet the child at a hotel in May 2020 to engage in sexual activity, which he videotaped.

In April 2022, Crow was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations at an airport while returning to the United States. A search of Crow’s phone revealed chats between him and Fernandes. The two Princess employees shared that Crow traveled to Thailand, the Philippines or India to have sexual activity with underage children.

Crow received a significant amount of child pornography from Fernandes. Crow instructed him to provide pornography of prepubescent minors and chided Fernandes that the children were “too old”. As a result, Fernandes Crow sent 13 videos containing over 600 images of child pornography, including pre-adolescent minors under the age of twelve (12), including images of young children being sexually abused. The text messages and WhatsApp exchanges between Crow and Fernandes reflect a disturbing focus on sadistic and masochistic child abuse.

A program for the production and exchange of child pornography

The mercury Newspaper reports that federal prosecutors have uncovered a plot between these two cruise ship employees to trade sexually explicit videos of Crow for child pornography. The newspaper notes that “Fernandes had a sexual interest in Crow, who ‘exploited’ that interest by agreeing to send Fernandes lascivious videos of himself masturbating in exchange for child pornography.” Fernandes, in turn, “sent Crow a series of videos in which prepubescent children were sexually abused, and Crow responded with consent, describing one video as ‘perfect’ and asking Fernandes where he got it from.”

A search of Crow’s phone also revealed that he followed the Instagram accounts of several other underage girls, although it is currently unknown if he met those children while employed on the Princess cruise ship

Assistant Cruise Director: From position of trust to Violent images of child abuse and seduction of a child

In court documents, the federal prosecutor argued that Crow’s actions were not “a one-time mistake” but “calculated decisions based on his own ingrained sexual desires.” Crow was a man of trust who, as a cruise entertainer, was responsible for the care and entertainment of children,” the prosecutor wrote. The prosecutor requested Judge Martinez to sentence Crow to forty-five (45) years in prison.

Crow’s defense attorney requested a reduced maximum sentence of 15 years, in part because the victim was seventeen (17) years old when she first had sex. He argued that in some states “adolescents may lawfully engage in sexual relations with adults as young as 16 or 17 years of age.”

Blame the child sacrifice?

Crow’s defense attorney tried to argue that the child was essentially a “precocious, mature, sexually aggressive” seductress who was “partly” responsible for Crow’s crimes. He argued that the victim enticed Crow into having sex, going so far as to argue that the minor was a “precocious 17-year-old sexually aggressive young lady who was fully aware of the sexual attraction she aroused in the defendant.” was, she took advantage of that attraction and built on it by continuing to text the defendant with sexual graphic fantasies she was harboring.”

Isolation and depression during the COVID-19 lockdown?

Crow’s lawyer also argued that after the coronavirus hit the cruise industry, Crow and other crew members suffered the effects of long-term isolation as they had to quarantine in their cabins. Crow’s alcohol consumption increased when he began working on the Princess cruise ship, and his alcohol consumption increased even more due to the “extreme social isolation and difficult circumstances” surrounding COVID-19. He would only stay sober until about 11:00 a.m., at which point he and other crew members would begin drinking alcohol. From February to August 2021 the crew was isolated and he was always drunk. Several crew members killed themselves due to the isolation and stress.

Crow told a psychosexual expert who was studying him on behalf of his lawyer that conditions on the cruise ship during his isolation were so deplorable that crew members committed suicide. He claimed Princess turned off her TV and restricted her WI-FI. “We didn’t have any social contact. Two people killed each other but the cruise line didn’t want us to know so they cut all their messages. We didn’t have any human interaction.” His father told the expert about Crow’s life on the cruise ship, which he described as a “prisoner.” “He wasn’t even allowed to walk around the cruise ship. He just sat in his cubicle and drank.” His father believed this led to his son’s alcoholism, depression and deviant behavior.

His father lamented that during this time, his son only had to exchange text messages with other crew members, who were also isolated in their cabins. (The identities of the other ship employees have not been released and it is currently unknown how many other crew members besides Fernandes sent him pornography).

Judge Martinez seemed to disagree with these arguments and sentenced Crow to three decades in prison, followed by life imprisonment after his release from prison.

Sexual abuse of minors on cruise ships remains a problem

This isn’t the first time an assistant cruise director has been caught sexually engaging with a minor.

Ten years ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) arrested deputy cruise director, 29-year-old Senad Djedovic, who Norwegian star Cruise ship charged with sex with 16-year-old passenger and possession of child pornography. At the end of the cruise, he had sex with her in a stairwell on the cruise. After the cruise, Djedovic exchanged emails with the girl that included explicit images and a video of him masturbating in front of a photo of the child.

A Disney youth counselor has been arrested for molesting a 10-year-old child Disney magic in 2019.

Sexual assaults on minors by crew members and other guests remain an ongoing and largely undisclosed problem on cruise ships. About a third of the more than 100 sexual assaults on cruise ships each year involve children.

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Sources for articles:

1. Complaint
2. Factual offer
3. Defendant’s motion for relegation
4. Expert Opinion in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Relegate Down