Personal Injury Law

Long-sought suspect in sexual assault case found working on cruise ship

By Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.

A man accused of sexual assault who has been on a "most wanted" list in California for nearly a decade has been found working on a Carnival cruise ship operating out of the state -- an incident likely to raise questions about hiring procedures at cruise lines.

The Oakland Tribune reports Bulgarian Kaloyan Kaloyanov, 36, was taken into custody last week on the 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendor on suspicion of sexually assaulting a gymnastics student in 2000, when he worked as a gymnastics instructor.

Police in Fremont, Calif., have been seeking Kaloyanov for eight years, and he has been on the department's "most wanted" list longer than any other person, according to the Tribune.

The Carnival Splendor sails voyages to Mexico out of Long Beach, Calif.

According to the Tribune, police say Kaloyanov abandoned his wife and daughter and fled the country in 2002 after being questioned during the department's initial investigation into a rape case. Police say Kaloyanov admitted to having sexual relations with the 15-year-old female gymnast during the questioning but was not arrested at the time, according to the news outlet.

The Tribune quotes police as saying the girl, now 25, told authorities that Kaloyanov sexually assaulted her twice while training for competitions.

The Tribune says a Google search during a review of cold cases led police to a Facebook page maintained by Kaloyanov, which in turn tipped them off to his new home on the cruise ship. The news outlet says he has worked on Carnival ships both as a fitness instructor and, most recently, as a manager of an onboard hair salon.

A spokesman for Carnival tells USA TODAY that while Kaloyanov worked on the Carnival Splendor, he wasn't an employee of the cruise line. As a staffer in the ship's spa, Kaloyanov worked for Steiner, the outside company that runs spas for a number of cruise lines including Carnival.

"He was employed by Steiner, which is responsible for background checks on (its) employees," Carnival spokesman Tim Gallagher says. "We are told he worked on several other cruise lines before his Carnival assignment."

Gallagher says Kaloyanov briefly worked on a Carnival ship in 2006 and then returned for longer stints on Carnival ships in 2009 and 2010.

Gallagher says Carnival has cooperated fully with authorities on the matter.

"When law enforcement contacted our shore side security department about this individual, we confirmed his identity, then shipboard security took him into custody and held him under guard until the Carnival Splendor returned to Long Beach where he was turned over to local authorities."

A spokesperson for Steiner could not be reached for comment.

UPDATE, Thursday, 2:45 PM ET: AOL Travel News is reporting that spa company Steiner says it performed a background check on Kaloyanov before hiring him six years ago in Bulgaria, and the background check did not turn up evidence of his presence on a 'most wanted' list in California.

"We have a very clean background check on him," Steiner chief operating officer Glenn Fusfield tells the news outlet.

AOL Travel also reports Kaloyanov has worked on a Disney cruise ship in recent years in addition to Carnival ships.

Originally Posted at: www.travel.usatoday.com

Full post as published by Cruise Ship Law on August 11, 2010 (boomark / email).