MELBOURNE, Fla. — A former Disney cruise line employee, who admitted to inappropriately touching a girl who was on vacation with her family, was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday.
The judge told the Ahmad Sofyan, who is from Indonesia, he’ll likely be deported since he was convicted of a felony sex crime.
Sofyan could have served up to 20 years in prison, but the judge sentenced Sofyan to close to six years with no probation to follow in the hopes it will make deportation easier.
“Have I made it clear? I do not want him in the United Stated of America one moment past the time that DOC (Department of Corrections) can give him,” said Judge George Maxwell.
After more than a year in jail, and with the help of an Indonesian translator, Sofyan pleaded guilty to the charges against him in open court.
He admitted to charges that he molested a 13-year-old girl aboard the ship where he worked as a cabin steward.
Sofyan apologized to the girl’s family.
“I’m very sorry for ruining their vacation for what I have done to them,” Sofyan said.
But prosecutors told the court what Sofyan did in April of 2014 was a choice rather than a mistake.
“This was a deliberate act on his part to get closer to this family,” said Russ Bausch, assistant state attorney.
Members of victim’s family said Sofyan befriended them and groomed the victim with extra chocolates and hugs.
Investigators said that later, the defendant enticed the teenager into an unoccupied cabin, where he fondled and kissed her.
The girl asked to leave on several occasions, investigators said.