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Man who camped on private Disney island fined $100

The road to the entrance of Walt Disney World has few cars Monday, March 16, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios were closed along with other theme parks around the state to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Alabama man arrested for camping out on a shuttered Disney World island has been fined $100 and banned from the Florida theme park for life.

The Orlando Sentinel reports 42-year-old Richard McGuire pleaded no contest to trespassing under a plea agreement in Orange County, Florida.


Orange County Sheriff’s deputies found McGuire on Disney’s abandoned Discovery Island in April.

The man, originally from Mobile, Alabama, said he didn’t hear numerous deputies searching the private island for him and told a deputy he didn’t know it was a restricted area, despite “no trespassing” signs.

Discovery Island had been a zoological park before it was closed in 1999.