A former Disney Cruise Line crew member will spend the next six years behind bars and face deportation after pleading guilty Thursday to molesting a teenage passenger last year.
Ahmed Sofyan was arrested in April 2014 as the Disney Dream returned to Port Canaveral from a four-night cruise to the Bahamas. He admitted to investigators he enticed a 13-year-old girl into her cabin against her will and touched her inappropriately.
Ahmed Sofyan after his arrest on April 10, 2014. (Brevard Co. Sheriff's Office)
The victim's family spoke to the judge Thursday, saying memories of their family cruise are now a nightmare. The girl's brother, who serves in the military, spoke of Sofyan befriending his sister and "grooming" her for what would end up as a sexual attack.
Reading a statement on their mother's behalf, the brother said:
I am still sickened by all of this. This entire vacation is in a dark shadow of the memory of a pedophile seeking pleasure with my daughter.
Sofyan, 37, himself the father of two young children — including a daughter — asked the judge for forgiveness.
"I feel empty," Sofyan said. "I feel so much regret for what I did, and my family is suffering for what I did."
Sofyan had faced up to 20 years for lewd acts and false imprisonment of a child. The judge sentenced him to 70 months in prison.
"I think we were being very reasonable, and I feel like the sentence was a little lenient in this case," said prosecutor Russ Bausch.
Once Sofyan serves his five years behind bars, it will then be up to the government whether to deport Sofyan, a native of Indonesia.
The victim's family said in court she is still seeing a psychiatrist about the incident.