A 34-year-old Maitland man was taken into custody after his cruise ship returned to PortMiami Saturday, accused of raping an 18-year-old woman he had met in the ship's nightclub hours earlier. Cody Gray now faces a sexual battery charge in Miami-Dade County, along with a separate charge of giving alcohol to a minor.
According to Local 10 News, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office reported that Gray met the woman early Saturday morning while the ship was still at sea. Per the arrest report, Gray gave her three additional drinks before the two ended up in his cabin, where authorities say he raped her while she was drunk. The victim was unconscious afterward, per the arrest report, and later told investigators she did not recall the details of what occurred inside the cabin.
Victim Says She Never Consented
The woman told authorities she never consented to sexual activity with Gray, according to the arrest report cited by the same outlet. The report also states that Gray was told the woman did not want to have sex with him. Authorities did not identify the cruise ship in the arrest report, leaving the vessel's identity and cruise line unconfirmed as of this writing.
Gray appeared in bond court Sunday in Miami-Dade County, where a judge ordered him held without bond pending an additional hearing. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, the county's primary intake and processing facility, which has a capacity of roughly 1,300 to 1,500 beds, according to Miami-Dade County.
How Cruise Crimes Reach Local Courts
Cases like this one illustrate what happens when a ship docks at PortMiami. The Federal Bureau of Investigation receives reports of serious crime allegations aboard cruise ships under the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In this case, local authorities made the arrest after the ship docked.
The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 requires cruise lines operating vessels with at least 250 passengers that embark or disembark at U.S. ports to report serious crime allegations to the FBI, which shares that data with the U.S. Department of Transportation for quarterly public reporting, per the U.S. Department of Transportation. That federal data shows just how often sexual offenses drive the industry's crime numbers.
Sexual Assault Dominates Cruise Crime Statistics
Department of Transportation figures for all of 2025 showed 131 reported sexual crimes, including 80 rapes and 51 sexual assaults, out of 181 total reported crimes across the cruise industry, according to Pennsylvania-based firm LM&W, PA. More recent numbers show the trend continuing: in the second quarter of 2026 alone, the department recorded 50 total reported crimes across all cruise lines, with sexual offenses making up 88% of incidents, including 25 classified as rape and 19 as sexual assault, according to Cruise Law News.
Florida law addresses sexual battery and consent. The separate misdemeanor charge Gray faces, giving alcohol to a minor, falls under Section 562.11 of the Florida Statutes, which makes serving alcohol to anyone under 21 a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, per The Florida Senate.
A Recurring Pattern at a Booming Port
PortMiami welcomed a record 8,564,225 cruise passengers in fiscal year 2025, a 4.02% increase over the prior year and the second-highest annual passenger volume of any cruise port in the world, according to Travel Markets Insider. That volume provides context for the broader discussion of alleged sex crimes at sea. The article also links to prior coverage by Hoodline previously covered and Hoodline also reported at the time, but the sources cited here do not verify the details of those additional cases.
As of this writing, the identity of the cruise line and specific vessel involved in Gray's case remains unknown, since authorities omitted that detail from the initial arrest report. It is also unclear whether federal prosecutors will pursue concurrent charges under federal maritime jurisdiction, given the FBI's role in investigating violent crimes committed at sea.
