Cruise Ship Accident Lawyer Blog
MIAMI, FL— August 18, 2011 – In yet another case of horror on the high seas, a 19-year-old man admitted to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl during a vacation aboard a Carnival cruise ship in March. According to information provided by Alabama Live, Dylan Cole Bloodsworth, of Mississippi, pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse and enticement charges in connection with the cruise assault.
Reports indicated the unidentified victim was on a cruise voyage to Mexico with her friend and friend’s mom when she met Bloodsworth. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Murphy, the teenage girl was sexually assaulted when she accompanied Bloodsworth to his room on the basis that she believed he would merely be fetching his jacket.
Once in Bloodsworth’s cabin, the 19-year-old proceeded to have sex with the minor, who told investigators she did not consent to the encounter. The teen also alleged that she was hurt in the sexual attack, which occurred on the Carnival Elation cruise ship.
On August 16, Bloodsworth, who initially claimed, “I don’t think there was force or coercion involved,” stood before federal prosecutors in Alabama and entered a “blind” guilty plea to charges including sexual abuse of a child and enticement of a minor.
Furthermore, Bloodsworth was charged with sexual battery after allegedly sexually assaulting a minor, also only 13 years of age, in Mississippi. Those charges remain pending.
About the Florida Cruise Ship Accident Lawyers and Maritime Attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.
Leading Florida crime victim lawyers Gerson & Schwartz state that ship firms have managed to avoid potential litigation through unethical business practices for years. Such practices can leave victims of molestation and/or sexual assault struggling to attain compensation for their pain and suffering. For more than 30 years, the Miami cruise ship injury attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz, P.A. have been dedicated to protecting the rights of travelers and cruise ship employees who have been sexually assaulted, sustained serious injury or been subject to preventable harm while aboard these “hospitable” vessels.