12-Year-Old Girl Involved in Molestation Case After Elderly Man Arrested in Central Florida

The incident involving Mr. William Chatel, 72, took place at the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. As reported by Click Orlando, the elderly man allegedly targeted and touched a girl aged 12 while she was in the lazy river at the resort.

“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,” Click Orlando said. “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.”

After law enforcement received calls of someone touching children, Mr. Chatel was apprehended in the resort’s hot tub where he claimed he didn’t remember anything about the alleged events in the lazy river.

In 2017, Mr. Chatel was working via an agency at the Goodwill store–located on the corner of Curry Ford and Goldenrod Roads–when he was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and later held in the Orange County Jail. The arrest came after parents grew concerned over the man’s behavior towards their child at the store.

The parent of the child involved during this more recent event is pressing charges and, according to Click Orlando, has provided the swimsuit to the authorities for DNA to be collected. Authorities 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 explains.

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–and is just a handful of miles from the Walt Disney World Resort.

Inside the Magic will continue to update this developing story.