LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Orange County deputies arrested a man they say lied about being a Disney employee in order to move things around, including a Star Wars R2-D2, in a Walt Disney World resort.
On May 31, deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's Office responded to the Swan Reserve Hotel on Epcot Resorts Boulevard. Once on scene, they reportedly found a man wearing clothes that could have him pass as an employee with a name tag.
According to the arrest affidavit, the man was wearing a high visibility orange work vest and had a Walt Disney World issued name tag with "David" inscribed, a deputy said.
He identified himself as 44-year-old David Rodgers, which turned out to be a partial lie. He later admitted to having the last name of Proudfoot.
Proudfoot raised concern when a security officer noticed him pushing a cart across Epcot Resorts Boulevard from the direction of the Swan hotel and onto Swan Reserve property.
Once deputies began investigating, Proudfoot told them he was employed at the Yacht club resort and even named a supervisor to refer to, the sheriff's office reports. However, Walt Disney Security had no record of his employment.
The sheriff's deputy transported Proudfoot to the Yacht Club resort to "retrieve his belongings," but he took the deputy through a range of different areas around the resort "that did not appear to be consistent with normal employee check-in procedures."
"At one point David took us up a stairwell that leads to the management offices," Deputy Chris Wrzesien said. "When I questioned David where we were going, he said 'Oh. I thought you wanted to speak to my manager to verify my employment.'"
When the two finally arrived at the locker room for employees, Proudfoot was unable to open his alleged locker with his items in it before the deputy asked him, again, if he had any proof of identification on him. At that point, Proudfoot presented his license that showed his true identity, the affidavit said.
Deputies took Proudfoot back to Swan Reserve where he admitted to Sgt. Steve Strickland that he moved an R2-D2 figure and a game machine.
"He told Strickland he had an application for Walt Disney World Security pending and was moving the items to show weaknesses in the security of the resorts in the hope of securing a better paying job at [Walt Disney World]," the affidavit shows.
Authorities said Proudfoot used a disguise to simulate a worker on the property and temporarily moved items valued between $6,000 and $10,000, therefor he was charged with two counts of third-degree grand theft, petit theft, obstruction of false information and scheme to fraud.
Proudfoot was booked into Orange County Corrections with a bond total of $8,150.
