Zoltan Ferencz
Cruise Line Waiter Arrested In Child Predator Sting
Princess Cruise Lines - September 11, 2007
Was this waiter on your Princess cruise? Ferencz had been employed as a waiter on Princess Cruise Lines at the time of his arrest, police said. He worked for Princess Cruises for five years.
Zoltan Ferencz, 27, of the Republic of Slovakia, was arrested September 11, 2007 after he traveled to Peachtree City, Georgia from Douglasville, Georgia to meet with an undercover officer whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He thought he was meeting the teenager to engage in a sexual act, police said.
The Peachtree City investigation was conducted with help from the Douglasville Police Department and the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, police said.
At the time he called Douglasville his home. However, Ferencz considers himself a Hungarian national from Kolárovo, Nitrianský, Slovakia.
This could be where the media got the idea he was a tourist along with the fact that is also identified with an alien registration card (green card), ALIEN NO: A89171671, which was posted on his public, online sex offender registry file in the state of Georgia. Once he left the U.S. he was removed from the public sex offender registry. If he returns to the U.S., he will be back on the sex offender registry, pending another likely deportation.
Police said Ferencz is charged with one count of violation of the computer pornography and child exploitation act of 1999.
Numerous postings on the web, identified as being from Ferencz defend his actions and say he is innocent.
A person identifying themself as a cousin to Ferencz, Visnyei Viki, 29, also posted at the bottom of a local news story documenting the arrest. Viki said that Ferencz was innocent and that the incident was a "misunderstanding" and a "conspiracy". Viki says that they speak Hungarian and German.
Charges: Violation of the Georgia Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 1999.
Ferencz was convicted of the charge on April 22, 2008 and given a sentence of 1 year. He was transferred to the Georgia Department Of Corrections (GDC) on July 1, 2008. His inmate number there was # 0001279736. Ferencz stayed at the GDC facility until his release on September 10, 2008. He was given credit for time served since the date of his arrest.
On September 2, 2008, a week before he was released from jail on the charge, Ferencz filed suit alleging his Prisoner Civil Rights had been violated while he was in jail. The complaint indicates he was denied his mail and visitors. Case #3:2008cv00103 filed in the Georgia Northern District Court alleges that Randall Johnson, Lt. Coker and Officer Storm violated Ferencz's federal Prisoner Civil Rights. Ferencz sued for $100,000, appearing that he had a plan to go home with his pockets full. But, the case was dismissed for failing to pay the $350 filing fee with the complaint. The case was dismissed the day after Ferencz was released from prison. His civil rights suit, put the case into the federal public domain, further documenting his conviction. 1 2 3 Below, the sex offender registry profile.
