FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 3, 2005 

ILLEGAL DUPLICATING LABS IN LOS ANGELES CLOSED FOR BUSINESS BY LOS ANGELES POLICE

Over 100 DVD Burners Seized in Two Day Operation 

Los Angeles '“ This week, the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA), working with Los Angeles law enforcement officials, seized thousands of dollars' worth of illegally copied copyrighted material from criminal pirate operations in the Los Angeles area. Three were arrested, including one known member of a local gang.  

'We are rooting out these DVD thieves one by one and tracking their networks in order to shut down illegal DVD and CD pirate operations," said John G. Malcolm, Senior Vice President and Director, Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations, MPAA. 'I would like to personally thank both the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Montebello Police Department's Special Investigations Unit for their instrumental and vigilant pursuit of these thieves. It is my sincere hope that these arrests will send a signal that such crimes will not be tolerated in the Los Angeles area. Those who continue to engage in this illegal behavior are doing so at their peril. We will find you, and you will be caught."  

On June 1, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Criminal Investigations Section took down an illegal lab located at 4118 Bresee Ave. in Baldwin Park. Pedro Lara, 40, was caught running an elaborate clandestine duplicating lab from the garage of his residence. Inside, officers found around 2,000 illegally duplicated DVDs, 7 towers, 41 burners, 4 commercial color copiers, a shrink-wrap machine, an industrial-size paper cutter, and a plethora of other supplies capable of creating thousands of additional DVDs.  

Earlier that day, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Criminal Investigations Section executed two search warrants on locations suspected of housing illegal pirate activities. The warrants, executed at 1458 W. 29th St. and 1690 W. Adams St. in Los Angeles, resulted in the seizure of 8 towers, 56 burners, close to 2,000 illegal DVDs and 2 commercial color copiers. Rodrigo Hernandez, 36, was arrested in connection with the two labs. 

On June 2, notorious gang member Albert Raymond Lopez, 33, added two additional felony charges to his already-extensive rap sheet when he was arrested and charged with violating California's True Name & Address (failure to disclose the origin) and Counterfeiting statues. The Montebello Police Department's Special Investigations Unit executed the warrant at Lopez's residence at 1336 Carob Way in Montebello. Seizures included over 1,000 illegally duplicated DVDs, around 600 CD-Rs, 6 towers, 17 burners, 3 printers, a paper cutter, and enough duplicating equipment to produce thousands of additional pirate DVDs. In January 2005, the gang, in which Lopez was an active member, was ordered by the Los Angeles Superior Court to cease from all gang-related activities and obey all laws as part of a permanent gang injunction.  

The motion picture industry and the MPAA have a multi-pronged approach to fighting piracy, which includes educating people about the consequences of piracy, taking action against Internet thieves, working with law enforcement authorities around the world to root out pirate operations and working to ensure movies are available legally using advanced technology. 

The MPAA estimates that the film industry lost approximately $3.5 billion to movie piracy in 2004, a total that does not include losses due to illegal file sharing on-line. According to a Smith Barney study, that number is expected to jump to $5.4 billion in 2005.  By deeply cutting into revenues, movie piracy limits the choices for consumers at the box office.  The average movie costs about $100 million to make and sixty percent of all movies never recoup their investment.  Piracy in all forms hurts the hundreds of thousands of individuals, whose jobs depend on a vital movie industry, including sound and lighting technicians, carpenters, and theatre and video store employees. 

About the MPAA:

The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries from its offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. These members include: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.; Paramount Pictures; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal Studios from Universal City Studios; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. 

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Source: MPAA