A Florida man, Mr. David Proudfoot, applying for a security job at Walt Disney World who wanted to impress his would-be bosses, removed an R2-D2 “Star Wars” droid as well as an unidentified game machine to an unknown location. He has been charged with grand theft and obstruction of false information, according to the arrest report on May 31st.
In the report, Mr. Proudfoot admitted his wrongdoing and confessed that he moved the droid, which has a value of up to $10,000. The report stated that Mr. Proudfoot had “temporarily moved” the droid to an unknown location, although he says that he had no intention of moving it off the property. He told the investigators that “he had an application for Walt Disney World Security pending and was moving the items to show weaknesses in the security of the resorts in the hope of securing a better-paying job at WDW.”
When the authorities had first arrived, he disguised himself as a deputy worker by the name of David E. Rogers. However, no one was employed with that name. He alleges that he misspoke, saying his manager was the name of an employee from California and not Florida. Also, when police went with him to retrieve items from his locker, he took a route that seemed “inconsistent with employee procedures.”
When questioned where they were going, he replied: “Oh, I thought you wanted to speak to my manager to verify my employment.” Later, investigators confirmed his real name and discovered that he had been part of other thefts of Disney-owned properties. For example, on May 16th, he was charged with stealing $735 worth of bathroom products and was arrested the next month for buying a gold necklace worth over $700 by identifying himself under a different guest’s name.
On May 16th, he admitted to those crimes and a separate charge of breaking at least three arcade machines on Walt Disney property.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/florida-man-disney-world-r2-d2.html
In the report, Mr. Proudfoot admitted his wrongdoing and confessed that he moved the droid, which has a value of up to $10,000. The report stated that Mr. Proudfoot had “temporarily moved” the droid to an unknown location, although he says that he had no intention of moving it off the property. He told the investigators that “he had an application for Walt Disney World Security pending and was moving the items to show weaknesses in the security of the resorts in the hope of securing a better-paying job at WDW.”
When the authorities had first arrived, he disguised himself as a deputy worker by the name of David E. Rogers. However, no one was employed with that name. He alleges that he misspoke, saying his manager was the name of an employee from California and not Florida. Also, when police went with him to retrieve items from his locker, he took a route that seemed “inconsistent with employee procedures.”
When questioned where they were going, he replied: “Oh, I thought you wanted to speak to my manager to verify my employment.” Later, investigators confirmed his real name and discovered that he had been part of other thefts of Disney-owned properties. For example, on May 16th, he was charged with stealing $735 worth of bathroom products and was arrested the next month for buying a gold necklace worth over $700 by identifying himself under a different guest’s name.
On May 16th, he admitted to those crimes and a separate charge of breaking at least three arcade machines on Walt Disney property.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/florida-man-disney-world-r2-d2.html