Man Arrested For Trying To Quarantine On Disney's Abandoned Island

A man was arrested for trying to live out his quarantine on Disney World's Discovery Island in Florida, which he compared to a "tropical paradise". ABC News reports that police officials found Richard McGuire on the shuttered island on Thursday. He was spotted using a company boat by a security guard. After the guard informed authorities, they reached the island to look for Mr McGuire. 

Orange County Marine deputies used a public address system to tell Mr McGuire that he was not allowed on the island - which is located in Disney World's Bay Lake and was closed to public in 1999. 

The 42-year-old from Alabama said that he could not hear officers searching for him on foot, by boat and by air because he was asleep in a building. According to the arrest report, he also claimed that he didn't know the private island was a restricted zone, despite several "no trespassing" signs and multiple locked gates. 

"Richard stated that he was unaware of that and that it looked like a tropical paradise," said the arrest report, according to WFTV.

After his arrest on Thursday, Mr McGuire also told authorities that he had been on the island since Monday or Tuesday, and had been planning to camp out there for a week. He has been charged with a misdemeanor for trespassing and banned from all Disney properties.

Florida has begun reopening after the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. Beaches and some other public places have been reopened in the US state.