The trial for Patrick Spikes, a former Walt Disney World employee accused of stealing and selling items from Disney attractions, has been cancelled1.
1: This information was brought to our attention by Orlando Rising (OR).
Set to start on the 21st January, the trial is now listed as cancelled on the Orange County Clerk of Courts website. The only upcoming proceeding in the case is a plea hearing set for 4th February, 2020.
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office and Spikes attorney did not respond to OR questions asking why the trial has been cancelled.
Spikes faces four charges, including grand theft and dealing with stolen property, related to allegations that he and friend Blaytin Taunton stole and sold items from the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom.
The story involved NBA player Robin Lopez, who unknowingly purchased (and later returned) items stolen from Epcot’s closed attraction, Cranium Command.
Spikes gained notoriety among Disney fans by posting backstage photos from around the parks under the name BackDoorDisney on Twitter and Snapchat.
He was later ridiculed when the Orange County Sheriff’s Office released a video of his questioning and arrest in December 2018, which included Spikes being taken to the ground by detectives and later asking if he could call his mother.
Having remained somewhat silent since his arrest, a man alleging to be Spikes started posting on WDWMagic.com over the weekend, claiming2 that he would be “walking with no felonies”.
2: The man also accused police of unlawfully obtaining evidence from his phone without a search warrant.
OR hasn’t been able to verify whether the above posts came from Spikes – the former Walt Disney World employee and his attorney did not respond to OR’s requests for comment.
Whoever is posting under the BackDoorDisney name on WDWMagic.com promised to reveal more information related to Buzzy, the animatronic star of Cranium Command that was reported stolen in November 2018.
(3) These posts reference the 4th February, the date of Spikes’ scheduled plea hearing, even though Spikes has never been charged in connection with Buzzy’s theft.
We’re going to leave our post here! We highly recommend that you take the time to read OR’s article on the story.
Source: Orlando Rising
