Baltimore Bootlegger Fined $15,000
Brian Burkett, the owner of Sound Garden -- the largest independent record
store in Baltimore -- was fined $15,000 for selling bootleg CDs. Burkett, who
refused to cooperate with the RIAA and Baltimore City Police Department, was
also sentenced to one year supervised probation.
RIAA Fast Tracks, September 15, 1998
Latin Music Pirate Sentenced to Prison
Bernardo Campos Lopez is currently in jail serving a one-year sentence for
violating California's True Name and Address Statute. Lopez was illegally
producing thousands of counterfeit cassettes of many top Latin artists. The
RIAA, along with the San Bernadino Country Sheriff's Department, seized more
than 250 cassettes used as masters and nearly a million counterfeit insert
labels.
RIAA Fast Tracks, September 29, 1998
Record CD-Recordable Bust In California
The Anaheim Police Department, along with the RIAA, confiscated more than
32,000 alleged counterfeit and pirate CDs, most of which were CD-Rs. A total
of 39 CD-R burners (the hardware used to copy the CDs) --capable of producing
more than 1,500 CDs during a 10-hour shift -- were also seized along with
almost 1.2 million alleged counterfeit insert cards and four computers. It
was California's largest ever CD-R bust. An investigation is ongoing with
several arrests expected.
RIAA Fast Tracks, November 3, 1998
First Time Offender Sentenced in Music Piracy Case
The Los Angeles County Superior court sentenced Leonard Wojtowicz to one year
of house arrest that requires him to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
Wojtowicz, 65, was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the RIAA for
brokering illegal CD orders at replication facilities in southern California.
RIAA Fast Tracks, November 3, 1998
Counterfeit Label Supplier Behind Bars
The RIAA is going after folks who willfully supply music pirates with
materials and equipment. George Krezinger was sentenced to one year in jail
and fined $20,000 for distributing counterfeit cassette labels. Arrested in
March 1998, Krezinger was supplying labels to an Arlington, Texas counterfeit
cassette factory that specialized in Latin music.
RIAA Fast Tracks, November 11, 1998
Four Arrested For Video Piracy In California
Four people were arrested in connection with a multi-million-dollar video
piracy ring operating south of downtown Los Angeles. Among the locations
raided were two video stores and two so-called video labs. Police confiscated
2,800 video cassettes and 39 VCRs. The investigation was initiated by the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and then turned over to police.
MPAA president Jack Valenti praised the Los Angeles Police Department's new
financial crimes division that features a special emphasis on intellectual
property crimes. This ring allegedly did about four million dollars in
business a year.
Yahoo/Reuters [California News], November 25, 1998
Good Cop - Bad Cop?
New Haven, Connecticut police officer Captain James Sorrentino was charged
with trying to return seized videotapes to a store for money. At press time,
Sorrentino was scheduled to answer second-degree larceny charges.
Investigators say the tapes were confiscated in a bootlegging investigation
and should have been destroyed.
Yahoo.com/States News Service, November 18, 1998
Recommended Reading
"The Widower's Two-Step" by Rick Riordan, Bantam Books, 1998
The world of bootlegging comes to life in this complex murder mystery that
takes place in and around the country western music scene in Texas.
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