A Texas man from a family of police officers was arrested on a cruise ship that arrived in Florida after a woman accused him of rape on board.
Juan Campos, 28, was arrested when Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas docked in Port Everglades over the weekend, just days after a 20-year-old woman alleged that Campos assaulted her during a cruise on Aug. 28. According to Local 10 News.
According to the arrest report obtained by the outlet, the plaintiff claimed that when Campos penetrated her with an unknown object against her will, she “pushed him and told him to stop. It hurts.”
She told police Campos then tried to force her to perform oral sex on her, and when that failed he tried to penetrate her again, according to the report.
But Campos' lawyers argued the sex was consensual and that their client stopped the act upon request.
“It was just a normal cruise, he was with some friends, he met some people on the boat, and the next thing we know he's been charged with this crime,” his attorney, Ed Hogue, told Local 10.
“They were apparently flirting but it got a little too much and when she said 'stop,' she verbally told him to stop and he stopped,” Hogue said.
Campos is originally from Houston and has family members who are police officers, but his entire family is shocked by the rape allegations, his lawyer told the outlet.
“The family say the boy has no criminal history, is a very good kid and was on holiday but they are shocked by these charges,” Hogue said.
Campos was removed from the boat at Port Everglades and remains in Broward County Jail, where a judge set bail at $20,000.
The allegations emerged shortly after a woman who alleged she was raped by a Carnival crew member during a 2018 cruise won more than $12 million in damages from the cruise line after a lengthy legal battle.
According to the lawsuit, the alleged victim claims that Carnival employee Freddy Angara lured her into a closet on the Carnival Miracle on Dec. 1, 2018, locked the door and sexually assaulted her. Judge Kathleen Williams handed down the sentence last week.
According to court documents, jurors awarded her $10 million in damages in 2022, but Williams sought an additional $2 million after Carnival challenged the award.
Angara has never been arrested in connection with the incident and is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
