More details have been released about the plea deal that was struck with Patrick Spikes, the former Walt Disney World Cast Member who snuck around backstage stealing costume pieces, signs, and manuals and later sold them on Ebay, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
What’s Happening:
- More details about the plea deal that Patrick Spikes, a former Walt Disney World Resort Cast Member who recently was arrested for stealing thousands of dollars worth of park memorabilia, has been made public.
- Under the plea deal, Spikes pleaded no contest to dealing stolen property. He was required to do 250 hours of community service and pay $25,308 in restitution, which according to court records, $6,703 went to Disney and $10,700 to NBA Player Robin Lopez.
- Lopez is an admitted fan of the Disney Parks and bought items that he thought were legitimately acquired from Spikes on Ebay, including the costume pieces of the notoriously missing Buzzy animatronic and a sign featuring General Knowledge from Cranium Command at Epcot, a sign for The Great Movie Ride, and a Cast Member Costume. After interviews with Detectives from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Lopez said he was willing to press criminal charges against Spikes.
- According to court records, Spikes has already paid the restitution fees and performed the hours needed for his community service.
- A redacted list of the stolen items recovered was also released, mostly consisting of signs and ride manuals but also featuring a piece allegedly worth $34,556: An animatronic head from the Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom.
- The criminal case against Spikes is considered closed, as is the one with his cousin, Blaytin Touton, who helped him with the thefts. Touton also avoided jail time by taking a plea deal.
- The Orange County Sheriff’s Office won’t release all the details though, because they are still part of other ongoing criminal investigations, or reveal too much of Walt Disney World’s Security Plan.
- Although another closed case, Alicia Reese, who had been connected to Patrick Spikes, was working at Walt Disney World and at Universal Orlando when she got caught removing items from the parks when she wasn’t working. According to an arrest affidavit, she was trying to remove ride manuals though it’s not specified which attractions. She wasn’t charged, but also secretly recorded her entire conversation with Disney security and later shared it with Spikes, and was later charged with a third-degree felony of unlawful interception of wire/oral communications.
- Spikes has also claimed that he had recruited at least one other woman to assist with stealing items from the parks.
- When pressed for information, NBA Player Robin Lopez had no further information regarding the whereabouts of the missing Buzzy animatronic, and Patrick Spikes denies that he was the one that stole it, addressing his own size versus the size of the animatronic, saying “It’d be ridiculous to steal a 300 pound animatronic.”
- According to court records, Buzzy has been valued at $400,000.