A Disneyland Park guest was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly groped a woman in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
The Incident
The alleged groping happened 8 p.m. Wednesday as live streamer and content creator Yoatzi Castro and her friends posed for a photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Live-streamed video reshared later showed a man whose hand disappeared behind Castro as he passed her.
“I just felt so insanely violated, and I am honestly so grateful that we were streaming because if we weren’t streaming, I feel like I would have had no evidence,” Castro said in a video shared to social media Thursday.
Castro immediately confronted the man, but he and a female companion pushing a stroller expressed confusion and continued walking over the drawbridge into Fantasyland, the stream recording showed.
Disneyland Security Responded
Castro then connected with Disneyland Security, and within an hour they located the man elsewhere in the park, according to Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Eric Anderson. Disneyland Security called Anaheim Police, who have officers at a substation near Downtown Disney, Anderson said.
Anaheim Police officers took statements from Castro and the man, and based on the video and surrounding circumstances, they arrested the man and cited him for misdemeanor sexual battery before releasing him, Anderson said. The Anaheim Police’s investigation is ongoing, and the citation is pending a court date and will be presented to the Anaheim City Attorney’s Office for filing considerations, Anderson said. Anaheim Police Department has not released the man’s name.
Castro’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment as of publication, but she took to social media on Thursday to reflect on the incident. She reiterated how glad she was to have been streaming when the alleged groping took place.
“If it had happened to any other female, any other girl at the park, I don’t think they would have had the evidence and he would have gotten away with it,” Castro said in her Thursday video. “Hopefully he learns his (expletive) lesson and never does this again.”
Castro said in her video she intends to follow the case against the man to its conclusion, and she thanked all involved law enforcement for their quick action.
“I am so grateful to Disneyland Security and Anaheim Police because I feel like justice was done,” Castro said. “As women, we always have to have our guard up because you never know when men like this are around us.”
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