Man, 22, Arrested After Allegedly Attempting to Marry a 9-Year-Old Girl at Disneyland Paris in Fake Ceremony

A British man was arrested after allegedly attempting to stage a fake wedding to a 9-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris.

The man, 22, allegedly was the “groom” in a staged ceremony that was scheduled to occur the morning of Saturday, June 21, in front of the park’s Sleeping Beauty castle, according to The Sunday Times. He told police that the goal was to ultimately make a video for social media, per the outlet.

Authorities were first alerted to a potential issue after Disneyland Paris staff noticed that the bride at a pre-scheduled wedding appeared alarmingly young, per The Sunday Times. The outlet additionally reported that authorities discovered that the wedding “guests” were hired actors who had been bused into the park for the event and given few details about what was scheduled to occur.

Alexandre Verney, assistant prosecutor for the Seine-et-Marne département, told The Sunday Times that the child has received a medical examination, and it was determined that she was unharmed. Verney told the outlet that four people were arrested in connection with the incident: the British “groom,” the child’s mother, who is a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman, and two Latvian nationals, ages 24 and 55.

The prosecutor’s office stated that the child’s mother and the 55-year-old Latvian have since been released from custody, while the British man and the 24-year-old Latvian are still being held over potential financial fraud, per The Sunday Times.

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Witnesses told French outlet Le Parisien that they were “shocked” when they first realized that the bride was a child.

“We all thought we were going to attend a wedding,” one person said. “Everyone was stunned, no one expected it.”

“Disneyland did things very well,” the man added. “They canceled everything as soon as they realized the bride was a child. We were shocked to see that.”

PEOPLE reached out to Disneyland Paris, as well as the Chessy National Police, for comment on Sunday, June 22, but did not receive an immediate response.