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Background: Cinderella Castle and Main Street, U.S.A. are seen at Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, August 12, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP). Inset: Jorge Diaz-Vega (Orange County Sheriff’s Office).
When Jorge Diaz-Vega, 28, was arrested in spring 2023 for allegedly taking an upskirt image of a 14-year-old girl while he was working at a souvenir store at Disney World, it was merely the beginning of his legal woes. Now, the girl’s family has sued him — as well as his employer.
They said the company could have put a stop to his behavior before that fateful date of March 30, 2023, because a female coworker had caught him in the act, but the House of Mouse failed to sufficiently investigate.
He allegedly admitted to Orange County, Florida, deputies in a post-Miranda interview on March 31, 2023 that he had been doing this at the Disney World theme parks for the approximately six years that he worked for them.
“Whenever Diaz saw a female he wanted to record, he would drop his hand sanitizer on the floor, and he would video record ‘candid shots’ up their dress,” documents stated. “Diaz estimated he had 600 videos on his phone, which were stored in the phone’s gallery,” deputies wrote. He confessed to once recording a female relative, though he claimed he deleted it and never did that again.
But he allegedly did it on March 30, 2023, to the 14-year-old girl at a store in the “Star Wars” section of Disney’s Hollywood Studios park, where he worked. While ostensibly showing the victim and her sibling how to use a toy, he used it as cover to put his phone under skirt and take either a picture or recording, documents state. The girl, however, managed to catch him, the lawsuit stated.
In his March 31, 2023, interview with authorities, Diaz-Vega allegedly confessed to his illicit behavior, and said that the last time he did something similar was that very day.
“I know what I did was wrong and I do not mean to cause any harm,” he wrote in an apology letter, according to sheriff’s documents. “I have autism and the times I was doing it I didn’t know the consequences.”
Diaz-Vega allegedly did it again at a Publix in Osceola County on June 5, 2023. Deputies there claim that a couple caught him taking an upskirt video of the woman. Initially unclear as to what happened, but suspicious, the couple followed him around until they saw him do it to another woman, according to documents. The first woman yelled at him, and her husband stopped him from leaving.
“I have been fired for this before,” Diaz-Vega allegedly said. “Please don’t call the police. I promise I will delete the pictures.”
He has pleaded not guilty to video voyeurism charges in both counties. Disney did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
