🐭🚨 Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure has seen weird nights… but none stranger than the arrest of the “Piggyback Bandit.”
When Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure Reopened, It Brought Back a Memory Disney Would Rather Forget
This week, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure reopened at EPCOT after a three-day closure, converting the attraction from 3D to 2D. Guests returning to the France Pavilion may notice sharper visuals, smoother projection, and the removal of the old 3D glasses bins. What they won’t see is any mention of the night the ride faced one of the strangest incidents in Disney history, a moment so bizarre that cast members still talk about it in hushed tones backstage. Officially, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office responded to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for a “sex other” offense, later classified as Exposure of Sexual Organs.
Unofficially, among cast members, a far more disturbing version of the incident was whispered in break rooms, custodial closets, and behind the pavilion’s decorative Parisian facades. According to multiple cast members familiar with the attraction’s operations, accounts never confirmed in official documentation, Sherwin’s behavior inside the ride vehicle may not have been limited to what made it into the arrest affidavit.
Cast members alleged that:
- Sherwin was observed on in-ride safety cameras Ride operators reportedly saw him sharing a single rat-shaped vehicle with an unidentified adult male. The overhead safety cameras, meant strictly for monitoring, allegedly captured unusual movements early in the ride.
- Operators believed he exposed himself during the ride These internal accounts describe Sherwin allegedly pulling out his sexual organs during projection-mapped show scenes.
- Some believed he was masturbating or urinating Backstage chatter suggested motions “consistent with masturbation” or urination, though none of this appears in the sheriff’s official report.
What is confirmed is what happened afterward. Sherwin was escorted out of the pavilion toward the taxi loop for trespass paperwork. During that process, he abruptly dropped his pants again, fully exposing himself to cast members and law enforcement.
He was arrested immediately and issued a trespass from all Disney property. But at the time, cast members didn’t know who they had just detained. Not the operators. Not the supervisors. Not even the deputies. But school districts across five states already knew his name.
The man arrested at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was Sherwin Shayegan, better known as The Piggyback Bandit.
His arrest at EPCOT wasn’t the beginning of his story. It was the end of a decades-long, multi-state saga involving sports teams, locker rooms, airports, and a trail of bewildered teenagers stretching from Washington to Florida. And with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure freshly reopened this week, it’s worth revisiting how , and why, his wandering path eventually led to a dark corner of one of Disney’s most family-friendly rides.
The Strange Rise of the Piggyback Bandit
Based on reporting from the Associated Press (2012), WHNT News 19 (2018), FOX 13 Seattle (2018), and News 12 New Jersey (2018) Long before Walt Disney World ever had to escort him out of EPCOT, Sherwin Shayegan had already built one of the strangest reputations in modern American lore, a heavyset, soft-spoken drifter who appeared uninvited at school sporting events across multiple states.
According to the Associated Press, his behavior first drew attention in the Pacific Northwest. Coaches in Washington and Oregon noticed a stocky 20-something man showing up at high school games dressed as if he belonged to the team, sometimes in jerseys, sometimes even in full uniform.
He would fold warmups, hand out water, linger around locker rooms, or hover near team benches as if he were staff. And then, at unexpected moments, he would ask for (or simply take) a piggyback ride from a teenage athlete. Players described confusion; officials described concern. But the pattern kept repeating.
By 2012, Shayegan had been banned from sporting events in five states: Washington; Oregon; Montana; North Dakota; Minnesota States reported similar behaviors:
- pretending to be part of a team
- giving unsolicited shoulder massages
- taking photos
- slipping into locker rooms
- jumping onto players’ backs
In Montana, he was arrested for jumping on two soccer players during a tournament. A judge fined him and warned: “Go back to Seattle and behave.” Three days later, he was in North Dakota jumping onto athletes again. Administrators began distributing his photo to every school in their districts. Staff posted warnings on gym doors: DO NOT ADMIT. But the Piggyback Bandit simply moved on.
The Airport Escalation
By 2017–2018, Shayegan’s behavior shifted from school gyms to bustling public spaces. According to News 12 New Jersey, he approached a 14-year-old boy at Newark Liberty International Airport, massaged the teen’s back without his consent, then handed him an envelope containing cash. When Port Authority police tracked him to a nearby hotel, they reportedly found dozens of envelopes labeled with airport names, each containing money and notes described as inappropriate. He was charged with child endangerment. It was the first clear sign that his behavior had expanded beyond sports environments. The Alabama Arrest Months later, in 2018, Shayegan appeared at a Falkville High School pep rally in Alabama. According to WHNT News 19 and FOX 13 Seattle, he blended into the crowd, took photos of players, and after the rally, jumped onto the back of a football player before handing the teen a folded note. Police traced him through: a Seattle-area phone number; a Huntsville restaurant; an Uber ride south to Hoover The Uber driver reported that Shayegan had been asking strangers for piggyback rides in the Walmart parking lot. He was arrested and charged with harassment — another state added to his growing trail.
Florida: EPCOT and the Disney Ban
Little is known about how Shayegan arrived in Florida in 2023. He often traveled without identification, carried minimal money, and frequently relied on public transportation or rides from strangers. But on March 29, 2023, he entered EPCOT.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office documentation is brief, noting only that deputies responded to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for a “sex other” crime. But the encounter ended with him exposing himself again during the trespass process.
Disney issued him a permanent trespass from all Disney properties, and he was booked into the Orange County Jail. A court date was set for May 19, 2023. Shayegan never appeared. Florida issued a bench warrant for his arrest, one that remains active to this day.
Where He Is Now (2025)
Based on CNN reporting, January 2025 For nearly two years after his EPCOT arrest, Sherwin seemed to vanish. Then, in late December 2024, his name reappeared — unexpectedly — in an investigation into a major aviation security breach at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. According to CNN, a stowaway slipped past TSA security and boarded a Delta Air Lines flight to Hawaii without a ticket. During the investigation, Port of Seattle police spoke to a witness — a man they immediately recognized from “numerous contacts” over the years. It was Sherwin Shayegan. Shayegan described the stowaway to police and pointed her out in the terminal. Officers noted he appeared familiar with the airport environment and wandered freely between secure and unsecure areas. The Florida warrant remains active. But Sherwin? He remains in Washington — drifting around SEA-TAC, still having periodic contact with law enforcement, still wandering alone. More than ten years after his nickname first appeared in newspapers, the Piggyback Bandit is still out there.
Final Reflections: A Wanderer Who Slips Through Cracks
Sherwin Shayegan is a one-of-a-kind figure in American crime lore; not violent, not predictable, yet repeatedly crossing boundaries that leave officials baffled. He has been:
- banned from schools across five states
- charged in multiple jurisdictions
- banned from airports
- banned from Disney
- and now wanted in Florida
Yet he lives in a strange limbo, drifting between public spaces where he blends into crowds unnoticed. Today, somewhere in the concourses of Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Sherwin Shayegan continues to wander — unseen by most, recognized by a few, and leaving behind a trail of unforgettable stories stretching from Washington to Florida to the most unexpected corners of the Disney Parks.
Sources Associated Press (Feb. 16, 2012). “‘Piggyback bandit’ banned in five states.” News 12 New Jersey (Jan. 1, 2018). “Port Authority police: ‘Piggyback bandit’ arrested after rubbing teen’s back.” WHNT News 19 (Oct. 22–23, 2018). “Man known as the ‘Piggyback Bandit’ charged with harassment of Falkville student.” FOX 13 Seattle (Oct. 22, 2018). “‘Piggyback Bandit’ arrested again, this time in Alabama.” Orange County Sheriff’s Office (2023). EPCOT arrest report for Exposure of Sexual Organs. CNN (Jan. 14, 2025). “How a stowaway slipped through security and made it on a plane to Hawaii, according to documents.”
