A convicted sex offender from Britain has been detained in France after he was accused of attempting to stage a mock wedding with a 9-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris that involved scores of unwitting paid actors.
The event was held early on Saturday, before the amusement park opened to the public, but was quickly cut short when staff at the park realized that the “bride” was a minor.
Jean-Baptiste Bladier, a prosecutor in Meaux, a French city just northeast of Disneyland Paris, said in a statement that the police were called to the scene and determined that the wedding was “a fictitious ceremony intended to be filmed privately” with fake guests.
The episode has raised questions about how a registered sex offender was able to book a private event involving a minor at one of the world’s most prominent theme parks.
The main suspect, a 39-year-old British citizen, used a stolen Latvian identity and fake documents to book the event, the police said. Mr. Bladier did not name the man but said he was “professionally made-up to show a face totally different from his own.”
Mr. Bladier said the man had been charged with fraud, identity theft and money laundering. He was also named as an assisted witness — a step short of being formally charged — in an investigation into the potential corruption of a minor.
The London Metropolitan Police said the suspect was wanted in Britain for breaching court orders relating to previous child sex offending.
His profile and age fit the description of a convicted sex offender named Jacky Jhaj, who has conducted several public stunts in Britain often involving fake events and hired actors.
The British police do not confirm the identity of an individual who has not yet been charged with an offense in Britain, but on Wednesday, the London police issued a statement in response to queries about Mr. Jhaj and the Disneyland Paris event.
The statement said that a 39-year-old man was wanted by the Metropolitan Police for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and for a breach of notification requirements under the Sex Offenders’ Register. “We are aware the man has been arrested in France for other matters and officers are in contact with the French authorities,” the statement said. The BBC also reported that the man was Mr. Jhaj.
In 2016, Mr. Jhaj was sentenced to four years in prison for sexual activity with two 15-year-old girls and handed an order restricting his activities on release. In a statement at the time, the Metropolitan Police said he had driven around schools in Hounslow, a neighborhood of West London, trying to pick up girls by claiming he was a Hollywood film producer and offering them alcohol.
In the Disneyland episode, about a hundred French extras were hired for 200 euros each via online advertisements for a “prestige wedding rehearsal” that required “absolute confidentiality” and called for a black-and-white dress code, officials said.
Yeelen Eyogo Edzang, a French actress in her 50s who responded to one of the ads, said in a phone interview that she arrived early on Saturday at a nearby hotel to get ready for the event. Videos shared with her by other extras showed that a string quartet was already playing before rows of white chairs, lined up with a view of Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
Then, Ms. Edzang said, she saw worried-looking members of the park’s staff in front of the hotel.
“The girl is 9; we are stopping everything,” one of them said, according to Ms. Edzang. Through one of the hotel windows, she saw the purported bride, wearing white crinoline, being carried by another woman.
“That’s what really stirred strong emotions,” Ms. Edzang said. “She was tiny.”
A 55-year-old Latvian man told the police that he had been hired to play the role of the “bride’s” father and that he discovered at the last minute that she was a minor, according to Mr. Bladier. The man, who said he had been paid 12,000 euros, nearly $14,000, for the job, alerted security at the park, who called the police.
The 9-year-old girl was accompanied by her mother. Both are Ukrainian citizens who arrived in France two days before the event. A doctor who examined the girl determined that she had not been physically or sexually abused, and that she had not been “forced into the role,” Mr. Bladier said.
Representatives for Disneyland Paris did not respond to a request for comment, but in a statement sent to French news outlets, the park’s management said that the event was “immediately canceled by our teams after major irregularities were identified.”
“We are cooperating fully with the authorities in their investigation, and have filed a complaint with the relevant authorities,” the statement said.
In June 2024, Mr. Jhaj was arrested after being seen speaking to young girls outside a casting session at a dance school in east London, and taking videos and photos without their parents’ consent.
In 2023, a BBC investigation found that Mr. Jhaj had booked hundreds of child extras for a fake movie premiere outside a cinema in Leicester Square in London. The BBC viewed instructions sent to extras by a casting agency that told them to “cry, far-reach and faint” as Mr. Jhaj walked the red carpet.
It was unclear if any charges were filed against him.
Ségolène Le Stradic contributed reporting from Paris.
Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France.
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