Disney character accused of fondling
Saturday, April 3, 2004 Posted: 0044 GMT (0844 HKT)
Michael Chartrand
(CNN) -- A Walt Disney World employee dressed as the character Tigger at the Orlando, Florida, theme park was arrested Friday on charges of molesting a minor and committing battery against her mother while the three posed for a photo, according to a police affidavit.
Michael Chartrand, 36, was booked on $2,500 bond, according to a spokesman for the Orange County Jail.
Chartrand is accused of fondling the breasts of a woman and her 13-year-old daughter as he stood between them posing for a picture at Walt Disney World's Toontown February 21, according to an affidavit.
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.
During an interview with police, Chartrand said he may have inadvertently touched the girl's breast, and added that he suffers from dyslexia, which impaired his memory.
According to a spokeswoman for Disney, Chartrand has been suspended without pay pending an investigation.
This is not the first time this has happened, but it may be the first time it was taken to court. Last year, my Chemistry teacher told us about how his wife was felt up by Pluto in the Magic Kingdom. They immediatley told the person that accompanies the animals (is there a name for these people?) and she got the managers involved. In the end, they were able to see it on camera (I guess that most animals have a camera in their costumes, especially Snow White, the most fondled Disney character) and they where given a free week long vacation at Disney World anytime. So Disney tries to keep these things hushed up.
However, this story sounds a little fishey. Why didn't the girl say something at the time? Did she think Tigger was going to beat her up in the middle of Toontown with that animal supervisor there? And now the mom says she was also molested? Sounds like they just want some money. Anyways, shouldn't this post be in the off topic section?
Jezus don't blow this up. How do you know that guy didn't do it on purpose? I mean, I bet lots of people had a Disney character's "paw" or "hand" on a part where they didn't want it, but does that mean that the one in the costume did it on purpose. It's just a whole deal blown up by the press IMO. Let's just see how this will end...
I'm sure this has happened before in one of the Disney theme parks, a man dressed up as one of the Three Little Pigs was accused of doing the exact same thing to some older woman in the park. Then, Disney proved that the woman had been lying since the costume's arms weren't movable. So I guess there are chances that this is a false statement as well.
goofystitch wrote:However, this story sounds a little fishey. Why didn't the girl say something at the time? Did she think Tigger was going to beat her up in the middle of Toontown with that animal supervisor there? And now the mom says she was also molested? Sounds like they just want some money. Anyways, shouldn't this post be in the off topic section?
According to an article I read, the girl felt ashamed and didn't tell anyone until later when she heard her mother say that she had been fondled as well. Naturally, they could be out for a little extra money. It also could have just been an accident on Tigger's behalf (brushing up against the wrong area or whatever). In either case, I'll give the family the benefit of the doubt. However, the characters can get pretty grabby (a few years ago, Geppetto touched me and an uncomfortable, but I doubt intentionally sexual, way). The inappropriateness of the touching could very well have been imagined.
WIST #1 (The pinkrenata Edition) -- Kram Nebuer: *mouth full of Oreos* Why do you have a picture of Bobby Driscoll?
I know I shouldn't be joking about such a subject, but in a book (about behind the scenes at Disneyland: the history, cast members, construction, weird guests, and law suits) I read about an incident opposite of what happened here. A female castmemeber was dressed as Brer Fox at Disneyland and as usual was taking pictures with kids. One mother, who was Spanish or Mexican, was curious if there was a man or woman in the costume. The mother grabbed at Brer Fox's chest and cried in triumph "Es una chica!" (It's a girl!)
Hehehe, sorry, but I had to share that.
This type of things must be horrible for the cast members.
First of all they must pose for hundreds of pictures every day, so how could a cast member remember someone that was in several weeks ago?
Then all tapes are most probably deleted by now, so nothing can be proven or not.
... and America is the land of the dreams even of those with not so pure intentions. Imagine how many money you can get if you win a case like this. The lawyer also does this Pro Bono so you don't have to pay anything if he looses.
I am begining to get afraid that this is the case of Michael Jackson as well. He did pay those other children to stop so why would he not pay us parents may think.
I am not taking any part in any of these cases, but I am only showing that we have to let the court decide upon what has happened before we get around and judge people that may have done nothing wrong. The world are full of bad people, some abuse others sexualy and others just acuse people of doing it. Both are equaly bad because they both ruin inesent lives.
It would be easy for Tigger to accidently touch a breast when putting an arm around them for a photo and how would the cast member even really know what was touched?
Look at the hands of this Tigger costume from Disney's Magic Kingdom :
If they had confronted him at the time then I would expect him to be able to say what happenned, but since they said nothing until much much later, it is completely reasonable that he would not remember them at all, let alone explain what happened.
However, his mentioning dyslexia is weird. Memory loss is not a symptom of this fairly common learning disability. In fact, many adult dyslexics have above average memory capability. Trying to use dyslexia as an excuse is ignorant and actually makes me more suspicious of the man. The only thing that he could say that would make me more suspicious would be if he claimed to remember exactly what happenned.
i think disneyland is a haven for pedophilles. when i went there with my 6th grade class, a man that was not an employee ended up convincing a group of us to let him take us to the different rides and he was trying to fondle and molest the whole lot of us. after we let the athoroties know he was long gone. when we were leaving, i saw the man across main street there pushing two boys into one of the theaters. being a cartoon character that kids love would be a pedophilles dream. it's weird because this guy here looks almost identical to the guy i remember. children who get molested are sometimes so ashamed of what has happened to them that they are afraid to say something to an adult. the dyslexia excuse causes me to think that he is soooo guilty. i'm almost 30 and i still feel uncomfortable about returning to disneyland.
Places like the Disney parks would sadly always be atractive to perverted people and therefor the people working there should always be on the looks for people like that.
Sadly we live in a sosiety where things like this never can be prevented a 100% but we should all look out for them and be a good people and report things like this.
But we should also as I stated before not judge people like this man before he is convicted.
Loomis wrote:But fondling is what Tiggers do best!
Hoo-hoo-hooooo...!!!!
Well, it seems so!
From Animated News:
More complaints about inappropriate conduct by Tigger cast members
After a report earlier this month that Michael Chartrand, while costumed as Tigger at Disney World, had been accused of fondling two women at the park, more reports of inappropriate touching have begun pouring in to authorites according to WFTV. Sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said, "It appears we have 24 folks that feel there may have been something inappropriate and that something happened to them. It appears all of our complaints are focusing on Tigger". One woman claims to have a picture of an alleged incident. She says, "I don't think it was a mistake. Everybody who goes through my photo album says, 'Tigger is groping you"'. In another WFTV report a woman actually has video of an alleged incident.
Loomis wrote:But fondling is what Tiggers do best!
Hoo-hoo-hooooo...!!!!
Well, it seems so!
From Animated News:
More complaints about inappropriate conduct by Tigger cast members
After a report earlier this month that Michael Chartrand, while costumed as Tigger at Disney World, had been accused of fondling two women at the park, more reports of inappropriate touching have begun pouring in to authorites according to WFTV. Sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said, "It appears we have 24 folks that feel there may have been something inappropriate and that something happened to them. It appears all of our complaints are focusing on Tigger". One woman claims to have a picture of an alleged incident. She says, "I don't think it was a mistake. Everybody who goes through my photo album says, 'Tigger is groping you"'. In another WFTV report a woman actually has video of an alleged incident.
