A cruise ship passenger has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly installing a hidden Wi-Fi camera in a public bathroom on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas. It took place on a week-long Caribbean cruise from Miami April 29 and recorded more than 150 people including around 40 children.
Authorities were alerted after another cruise guest noticed the camera a day after it had been installed.
The man, who has been dentified as Jeremy Froias, boarded the ship in Miami, allegedly installing the camera in a public bathroom on the ship’s top deck between a surfing simulator and a bar once the ship had sailed.
It has been reported that the initial videos on the camera allegedly show Froias hiding the camera and adjusting the angle to focus on the toilet, then connecting the camera to his phone using Wi-Fi, before leaving the bathroom.
Additional videos reviewed by investigators showed more than 150 individuals, coming into the bathroom to either use the toilet or change into or out of swimsuits, the complaint said.
According to the criminal complaint, Froias allegedly “admitted to placing the hidden camera in the bathroom” and told the ship’s security personnel that he knew the camera had been found and taken because he couldn’t find it when he went to check on it on May 1.
At his bond hearing Monday, he was released to his wife and ordered to post a US $25,000 unsecured bond with the conditions that he is not to have unsupervised contact with any minors, including his children, is not to have internet access, and is to surrender his passport, among other things, court records show.
He is facing charges of video voyeurism and attempted possession of child exploitation material.
The FBI has set up a website https://forms.fbi.gov/harmonycruisevictims for guests on the voyage who believe they may have been filmed.