Angela Orlich Testimony

[chairmanTARAC]

On Good Morning America this morning they reported Ms Orlich Testified in Congress she booked a scuba dive on a cruise line in cozumel and the instructor tried to turn off her air and sexually assult her. She says she reported it to the line and they did nothing. Any truth to this allegation?

 

[MoxisPilot]

I've found reports of it online, but not with any credible news sources (yet). There is a print of the story on Yahoo! news, but they're notorious for being as factual with their articles as the National Enquirer. Best I can say is to watch the major news sites, like CNN or FOX.

 

[northen diver]

On Good Morning America this morning they reported Ms Orlich Testified in Congress she booked a scuba dive on a cruise line in cozumel and the instructor tried to turn off her air and sexually assult her. She says she reported it to the line and they did nothing. Any truth to this allegation?

Here in lays the problem. This has happened in 2003. She had bite marks on her breast AFTER the dive. She reported the crime to the cruise line, she was hystrical on her surfacing of her decent, other people thought she was attacked by a shark (a real shark). As of today, she still doesnt know if the "instructor" was fired, and there was no followup with her on the case after she reported the crime to the cruiseline and state department.

The major cruise lines dont release comprehensive crime statistics. They try to keep the crimes committed on thier cruise lines in a vaccum. Your legal rights actually depends on if the ship is in port and what territorial waters it was in at the time of the crime ( local laws or maritime law).

Mr. Orlich is testifing on her ordeal on what happened to her to help make some changes on how the cruise lines report and handle serious crimes.

I believe what happened to her to be true.

 

[grassyknoll]

She had bite marks on her breast AFTER the dive. She reported the crime to the cruise line, she was hystrical on her surfacing of her decent

Hard to imagine anyone commiting an attack at depth, I mean anything is possible but it just seems odd. Just thinking out loud here, I don't know what Ms. Orlichs' previous diving experince was, but if she was taken on a deep dive (not uncommon in Coz) with little previous experince with narcosis, is it possible she had some really vivid hallucinations?

Of course this is totally irrelevant to the reason for her testimony, no matter what the cause the cruise lines should have fully investigated.

 

[MoxisPilot]

My husband brings up a good point about the validity of her statement. According to her testimony, which I found at the following link: Angela Orlich - Cruise Ship Sexual Assault Victim

she states the following:

"I grabbed the rope to get back up to the boat, trying to get away from him, but he grabbed me and began to pull me back down. I tried to fight him off, but he persisted to molest me. Then, he turned off the air on my tank! He pulled my top down (I was wearing a two-piece bathing suit) and bit my breast."

Here is my question on the subject: If this happened in 2003, the Halcyon BCD system (which is just an inflatable back piece with hookups for an air tank, if you guys have seen them), and other such BCDs, were not widely used (if they were even around at all at that time), and especially not by cruise lines or other dive tour companies.
Other BCDs which I've seen make access to the swimsuit virtually impossible, but she states he removed her swim top, though there is nothing about this guy touching or removing her BCD...so what exactly is going on here? Am I missing something?

 

[northen diver]

Hard to imagine anyone committing an attack at depth, I mean anything is possible but it just seems odd. Just thinking out loud here, I don't know what Ms. Orlichs' previous diving experience was, but if she was taken on a deep dive (not uncommon in Coz) with little previous experience with narcosis, is it possible she had some really vivid hallucinations?

Of course this is totally irrelevant to the reason for her testimony, no matter what the cause the cruise lines should have fully investigated.

They were at 30 feet. I doubt she was narc'ed.

The point is not to judge her on if she made up the story or not. The point is for the authorities to investigate if a crime did happen from the evidence, and if so, prosecute the offender.

There was evidence of bite marks on her on her decent. She was hysterical upon breaking the surface on her decent. Where did the bite mark come from. NOBODY really knows what happened except her and the "instructor" because this was never fully investigated.

 

[northen diver]

My husband brings up a good point about the validity of her statement. According to her testimony, which I found at the following link: Angela Orlich - Cruise Ship Sexual Assault Victim

she states the following:

"I grabbed the rope to get back up to the boat, trying to get away from him, but he grabbed me and began to pull me back down. I tried to fight him off, but he persisted to molest me. Then, he turned off the air on my tank! He pulled my top down (I was wearing a two-piece bathing suit) and bit my breast."

Here is my question on the subject: If this happened in 2003, the Halcyon BCD system (which is just an inflatable back piece with hookups for an air tank, if you guys have seen them), and other such BCDs, were not widely used (if they were even around at all at that time), and especially not by cruise lines or other dive tour companies.
Other BCDs which I've seen make access to the swimsuit virtually impossible, but she states he removed her swim top, though there is nothing about this guy touching or removing her BCD...so what exactly is going on here? Am I missing something?

You are playing detective here. Why call her statements into question when you know very little about what really happened. Because of the magnitude of this reported crime, I would give her the benefit of the doubt until the evidence suggest otherwise. It is traumatic enough for her without other people "guessing" on what happened. The point is that important evidence was lost by the authorities not investigating this reported crime properly. She didn't have her day in court as she should have.

 

[chairmanTARAC]

Most cruise lines book dive operators who are affiliated with dive certifying agencies Did she report it to them? Most dive agencies take these complaint's very seriously and in the competive world of scuba competition its unusual that no one know's what operator it was. When she says no one investigated ,she is sending a message that scuba diving is not safe for women. I doubt the "instructor" was an employee of the line. There are many operator's in cozumel who would love to do business with a line. There are many of us on this board who would like to know where we don't want to book a dive with.

 

[northen diver]

Most cruise lines book dive operators who are affiliated with dive certifying agencies Did she report it to them? Most dive agencies take these complaint's very seriously and in the competitive world of scuba competition its unusual that no one knows what operator it was. When she says no one investigated ,she is sending a message that scuba diving is not safe for women. I doubt the "instructor" was an employee of the line. There are many operator's in Cozumel who would love to do business with a line. There are many of us on this board who would like to know where we don't want to book a dive with.

Quite frankly....who gives a ***** if the dive agency was notified by her or not. This was a reported crime to the proper authorities and nothing was done about it. Too this day, she doesn't know what was done about. Victims has rights !!!

Lets put it this way. Whatever happened, to innocent until proven guilty. Now if the instructor is innocent and she lied about what happened, then she should be prosecuted. BUT, let a investigation take place to see what happened. THIS wasn't investigated because the cruise lines don't want their lines to have the perception that their cruise lines are unsafe. So they don't report these kind of crimes all the time when they happen and they can keep their crime stats very low. This is what she is testifying on four years later..........

 

[grassyknoll]

The point is not to judge her on if she made up the story or not. The point is for the authorities to investigate if a crime did happen from the evidence, and if so, prosecute the offender.

I have to disagree, and for the record, hallucinating and "making it up" are two different animals. If we are not allowed to dissect the account and her statements including how and if it happened, then I guess the only thing anyone should ever post in the accident forum are the final investigatory reports. No SB member analysis, no discussion or examination, no theories should be allowed.
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