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Lawsuit: Disney Security too harsh

COURTS: Family contends park guards had no basis for arrest.

By Anne C. Mulken – The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA - A Santa Maria family sued Disneyland on Thursday, contending they were falsely arrested and imprisoned by park security guards.

Rafael Cortez, 40, and his wife, Irma, 37, said their daughter Veronica, 17, was accused of stealing two Mickey Mouse hats, even though she had a receipt.

“It really shocked us,” Irma Cortez said. “We were like, ‘Wait a minute, we have our receipts.’”

Disneyland spokesman Tom Brocato declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The suit, filed at Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, seeks unspecified damages.

The case comes as other patrons have criticized park security. The U.S. Justice Department said this week that it is investigating claims by a Covina woman and her family that they were assaulted by Disneyland guards.

The Cortez family clashed with guards April 6. Veronica Cortez said in court papers that she bought two Mickey Mouse hats with fuzzy, protruding ears for $16.70 each near the It’s a Small World ride. She later went into another gift shop, and guards stopped her outside.

The guards, the suit alleges, questioned the girl for three hours because her receipt said “stuffed animals” and not “hats.”

Irma Cortez said she returned to the It’s a Small World store and asked a cashier to ring up MIckey Mouse hats. The receipt again printed “Stuffed Animals.” Shop employees told the guards that Veronica Cortez had bought the hats, the lawsuit states.