Disney contractor facing sexual battery charges

A contracted janitorial worker with Disney is accused of sexually battering his co-worker for sex while the pair worked at Blizzard Beach, records show.

The victim told deputies he was working at the water park after closing one night in May when a new co-worker, who he knew only as “Mike,” approached him and started asking sexually explicit questions, according to an Orange County Sheriff ’s Office arrest report. The victim said he ignored the man and kept working, but Michael Cooper, 31, was persistent, the report states. Cooper “forced” himself on the victim and started sexually battering him, the report states. The victim said he felt “threatened and unsafe” and told Cooper several times to stop and that he wasn’t interested. Cooper continued, though, and at one point asked the victim to have sex on their break, saying “it could be our little secret,” records show.

The victim eventually left work early that night and called their boss to report the incident. The next day, he met with detectives, who had him call Cooper to confront him about the incident. In the recorded phone call, Cooper allegedly told the victim he was “sorry” and “you can come back I won’t (mess) with you,” according to the report. The victim told deputies he didn’t want to return to work because he felt “helpless unable to defend himself.”

Cooper pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of sexual battery and battery, court records show. He is being held in the Orange County Jail on $10,150 bail. Court records show Cooper was arrested in October on burglary charges stemming from a July incident at the Blizzard Beach gift shop. Deputies say more than $42,000 worth of sunglasses were stolen from the shop during two burglaries there in July. Prosecutors earlier this month dropped those charges. A Disney spokesperson said it no longer uses the contract company that employed Cooper.