Police Arrest Elderly Man for Alleged Child Endangerment Near Walt Disney World

A 72-year-old man has been arrested after accusations of him touching children were reported to the authorities.

The incident involving Mr. William Chatel took place in a lazy river swimming pool at the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, earlier this week. As reported by Click Orlando, Mr. Chatel allegedly inappropriately touched a girl aged 12 while she swam around the lazy river.

“According to the affidavit, a mother at the resort told deputies that her 12-year-old daughter was swimming in the lazy river on Sunday,” reported Click Orlando. “The child reported that she felt something touch her and when she looked down, she saw a man touch her lower back and right side.”

Mr. Chatel was reportedly caught on camera going underwater as children swam by, and after law enforcement received calls of someone touching children, he was later apprehended in the resort’s hot tub where he stated he didn’t remember anything.

The accused has a history with this behavior. In 2017, Mr. Chatel was working via an agency at the Goodwill store, located on the corner of Curry Ford and Goldenrod Roads, when parents caught him pressing his body against their child and later squeezed the child’s buttocks. He was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and later held in the Orange County Jail.

Following the more recent incident at the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek, the parent of the child involved is pressing charges and, according to Click Orlando, has provided the swimsuit to the authorities for DNA collection. Law enforcement then received a warrant to obtain a sample from Mr. Chatel. “He faces charges of lewd and lascivious molestation by a victim 12 or under,” the report confirms.

The Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek is one of the hotels that borders the Walt Disney World Resort. Just minutes from the popular theme parks, the Club Wyndham is part of the Bonnet Creek collection of hotels, including the official Disney World partner hotels: Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, and the Waldorf Astoria Orlando Bonnet Creek.

We will continue to update this developing story.