LAPD Captain arrested for allegedly selling pirated (DVD) movies
 

From Fox News

A Los Angeles police captain with 28 years at the department was arrested Tuesday for allegedly selling pirated and counterfeit DVD movies._

Julie D. Nelson was booked after investigators found hundreds of DVDs in her home.

Nelson is charged with two felony counts under the California Penal Code: failing to disclose the origin of a recording or audiovisual work; and possession for sale and sale of a counterfeit trademark or registered mark._

The Los Angeles and La Palma police departments, the Encino-based Motion Picture Association of America and the Orange County District Attorney's Office opened a joint undercover investigation last week after a tip from a confidential source to LAPD's Professional Standards Bureau.

Andrew

Ha!

"I enforce the law, doesn't that mean I'm above it?"

Re: LAPD Captain arrested for allegedly selling pirated (DVD) movies
 

If they're gnna start booking everybody with "hundreds of DVDs" in their home, a lot of us are in trouble!

(Maybe she can say they're all from the DDD coupon sale last week.)

"But I was part of an undercover eBay sting operation and this was the evidence... yeah, that's the ticket!"

I wonder if they had inserts.

I can't believe that she risked a 28 year career over this. I wonder what other criminal activities she has been involved in over the years. I doubt she just started with DVD piracy.

Ha!

I bet she thought it wasnt a big deal.

By pirated do they mean like the ones from Asia that are on ebay all the time? I have heard the Asian dvds are called bootlegs, but they are licensed for distribution in Asia so are thus legal....correct?

Incorrect... Many, if not most, of these are bootlegs.

Some of the Asian countries turn a blind eye to piracy, and these discs are not licensed in those Asian countries for release by those distributors. Legitimately liscensed films are usually for that specific region (i.e., HK & Chinese discs would be for Region 3 only.)

The Flea-bay sellers put "Import" on their listing so they don't get in trouble for selling bootlegs.

Both western and Asian films have legitimate discs available from Asian countries, but many items on E-bay are pure bootlegs.

Just because they put "import" on the DVD does not make it legal. A bootleg is a bootleg.

We call her dumb because she had something to lose - her job (which was being a cop in the "Hollywood" area). I wonder if all bootleggers and buyers would stop if they saw (by this example) they could get fired by being involved in bootlegging DVDs.

Hay, she may have been doing this sort of thing for 20 years and just got caught this time. :) If she was dumb enought to keep them in her house think of all the people who are doing it but have the sense to keep them elsewhere. In Atlanta we just had a huge bust of DVD boots in a warehouse. I bet it put the owners out of business for a whole week. :)

Chances are the warehouse is the higher up chain. Bootlegging and piracy has been one of those topics I have followed with some interest for some time. those folks you see on ebay and at flea markets selling these are pretty much the bottom of the chain. they are usually getting supplied through the person above them. This cop either sounds like the supplier or the bottom chain herself. she's doesn't have enough traffic in moving them if she only had some at home. Chances are her source is something like that warehouse pagansoul talks about. the source above that is directly the asian importers who sneak in the market and now with internet speeds the way they are, they could just transfer the data with a simple point and click. the warehouse then gets this data and burns it to dvd's in a big bulk recording system that usually run about 3,000 or so. depending on which company you are going to buy it for. who set up is just a number of dvd-r copies hooked up to one machine and cranking out the dvd-r's.

My stance on it.. just because you can get it for free, doesn't mean you should sell it. I go to the theater atleast 3 times a month for new movies, more depending on which movies are out. sometimes watch the film twice if I really like it. I will download it if given the chance, but that's more for personal enjoyment of practicing editing around. If you are going to get a bootleg item I would suggest getting it yourself and not having to pay anyone. keep the money for the dvd since it will be much in a much nicer quality. Not to mention with so many groups out there now a days you really don't know what type of quality you are getting on any one item.

This officer really screwed up in trying to sell the bootlegs. bad move and now she has to face the facts that her 28 years are the cost of it.

I saw a story on the news last night about this and the movies that she was pirating were US movies still in the theatre now. Most likely camcorder jobs.

Also, an article in the LA Times says that she was recently reassigned to a new post which was considered a demotion.

I never understood the mentality that would buy an inferior pirated movie for 15-20.00 when a far better, and probably cheaper, official version will be released in just a few months. And to risk your job over it? If she's a police officer, she knows ignorance will not get her out of this. Whether she thought it was OK or not is beyond the point of consideration. What she did was beligerant and illegal, and she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

Does anyone else think that, "failing to disclose the origin of a recording or audiovisual work" sounds ominous?

Here in the Philippines, the DVDs are $1.46 a piece. I had a friend visit from NJ who bought and took home 200 (yes, 200!) DVDs. Funny thing...customs caught her and found the DVDs but didn't do anything. Didn't confiscate them or anything...which surprised me!