Sunday, June 13, 2010

Not THAT Kind of Planning...

Woman accused of using cruise line job for burglaries

Miami, Florida (CNN) -- A former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the homes of 24 vacationers who were spending time at sea.

Police in Palm Beach County say the employee accessed personal information about reservations to find out when the vacationers would be away.

Bethsaida Sandoval, 38, a Royal Caribbean vacation planner, has been charged with 24 counts of burglary across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Sandoval's husband, John Lopez, acted as her accomplice, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

Lovely. These folks signed up for a cruise not knowing that the person helping them achieve their dream vacation was a common thief. One wonders exactly what Royal Caribbean could have done differently - there's no information as to whether this was a one-time deal or a pattern of lawlessness; they should be given the benefit of the doubt as to their employee vetting for now. However, with places like MA trying their damnedest to hide the records of criminals from employers, the odds of this story repeating itself will increase...

There are benefits to living in a small town - this is the kind of place where an unknown vehicle parked outside of a house on the street will get the cops called on it...

That is all.

5 comments:

ravenshrike said...

I distinctly remember this being part of the plot to an episode of Castle.

JohnOC said...

Heck of an interview question. "I see you have no criminal record, but are you likely to burglarize the homes of people you plan cruises for?"

notDibert said...

.....and in most small towns that type of call is encoraged and reponded to immediatly, unlike larger cities where it gets viewed as low priorty and a pain.

ASM826 said...

We had a series of crimes here that was related to the sale of home theater systems and big screen TVs. The local $BIGBOX had an employee that would capture the addresses of purchasers, and then a group would hit the house in a week or two when the occupants were at work.

Charming little scam, if you did it once. Over and over, eventually it starts to look like a clue.

Old NFO said...

Good point! Of course in Florida, if you 'know' your neighbors at all, that is unusual...