DVD piracy raids net 4 undocumented men, thousands of discs


By bob mims

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Jul 15 2011 11:57AM
Updated Jul 16, 2011 11:21PM

A crackdown on movie and music piracy has netted four Mexican nationals in the country illegally and more than $70,000 worth of bootlegged DVDs during raids on two West Valley City homes.

The arrests Wednesday were made by agents of the Utah Attorney General’s SECURE Strike Force, which also confiscated bogus government identification cards being used by the four undocumented immigrants.

In all, agents seized more than 5,000 discs in what was the latest victory in the Strike Force’s two-year crackdown on major crimes allegedly committed by undocumented aliens.

"This was a very large, multistate operation that was dismantled after long-term surveillance by the SECURE Strike Force," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said.

The four men — a father and his three sons — allegedly sold the pirated discs at weekend swap meets in northern Utah, southern Idaho and western Wyoming. The discs themselves are thought to have originated in California.

The arrests were the result of a yearlong investigation conducted by the Strike Force in partnership with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Utah Department of Public Safety and Park City Police Department.

"This investigation required a great deal of time and special investigators with forensic accounting skills to crack the case," said Strike Force Commander Leo Lucey. "With few exceptions, [music and video] piracy is often associated with other crimes that hurt the public."

The music and movie industries estimate annual losses due to piracy at more than $12 billion.

The four suspects — ages 52, 32, 30 and 24 — were being held without bail Friday at the Salt Lake County Jail. State prosecutors said they intend to file state copyright violation and other charges on Monday. Federal charges also are possible.

The arrests marked the second high-profile bust this week for SECURE. On Tuesday, the AG’s Office announced raids in which SECURE personnel nabbed 21 people and seized thousands of containers of illegally imported prescription drugs and other drugs not approved for use in the United States. The drugs were seized from more than two dozen Latino-operated markets in Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele, Utah and Weber counties.

Investigators confirm they are looking into the suspects’ possible ties to organized crime families in Mexico.

www.sltrib.com