Cruise Ship Passenger Caught Kissing 5-Year-Old Girl on Board, Police Say

A man was arrested after allegedly kissing a 5-year-old girl on a cruise ship.

Ernest Richard Bishop Jr., 51, was arrested by Miami-Dade police on Monday after the Carnival Sunrise returned to port in Miami, local TV station WPLG reported. He was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct.

According to the station, the arrest report says the girl's father witnessed Bishop kiss the girl on the mouth while the vessel was at sea on Saturday night.

Bishop, of Morning View, Kentucky, declined to speak with Miami-Dade police after his arrest, according to the report. He was released after posting a $7,500 bond, WPLG reported. Miami-Dade Police have been contacted for comment.

"Following a complaint, the Carnival Sunrise security team investigated a matter over the weekend, followed proper protocol, and notified shoreside law enforcement, which has since taken action," a Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson told Newsweek.

The spokesperson added: "The guest in question has been banned from all future cruising on Carnival."

The Carnival Sunrise is one of 26 ships listed on the Carnival Cruise Line website. Boasting a guest capacity of almost 3,000, the ship left Miami on September 29 for a four-day cruise to Key West, Florida, and Cozumel, Mexico.

The alleged incident aboard the ship comes just weeks after police in Massachusetts and the FBI launched an investigation into a report of a sexual assault on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.

The Massachusetts State Police said they were called to the Norwegian Breakaway at about 7:15 p.m. on September 13 while it was docked at Boston's Black Falcon Terminal.

Dave Procopio, a spokesman for the state police, told local news station WBZ-TV that their investigation "revealed the alleged assault took place previously while the ship was making way somewhere between Providence and Boston." The alleged victim and suspect are both ship employees, according to Procopio.

Sexual misconduct is the top crime reported on cruise ships, according to Cruise Law News, which is run by maritime lawyer Jim Walker.

According to data from the Department of Transportation (DOT), there were nine reports of sexual assault on Carnival Cruise Line ships between April 1 and June 30 this year. Ten reports were made on Royal Caribbean ships during that period, while three were made on Princess Cruises ships, two were made on Norwegian Cruise Line ships and another two on Virgin ships.

According to Cruise Law News, Carnival leads the cruise industry with the most reports of sexual assaults. It has a per capita rate of nearly 40 per 100,000 people.