Pirates hijacked
‘Operation Desert Pirate’ snags 6 people selling illegal CDs, DVDs at flea market

McKinley County Sheriffs Officer Diedra Gonzales collects evidence at the Gallup Flea Market on Saturday. Six adults and and two minors were arrested for selling copyrighted materials. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — McKinley County investigators surprised alleged sellers of pirated music and movies at Gallup’s flea market Saturday.

Dubbed “Operation Desert Pirate,” the bust — during which police arrested six people — had been weeks in planning, according to a news release issued Saturday by District Attorney Karl Gillson.

“Based on several surveillance missions conducted by the sheriff’s office during recent weeks, police determined that there were as many as 13 separate vendors selling pirated material at the flea market,” Gillson wrote.

Three vendors and their associates were arrested Saturday.

Five other vendors quickly fled; Gillson said the county lacks resources to arrest everyone in one day, and that he is confident word of the arrests “will spread like wildfire on a windy spring day in McKinley County.” Investigators said they targeted vendors who had recorded the greatest number of copyrighted CDs and DVDs.

Police charged each vendor with unauthorized recording and improper labeling, fourth-degree felonies. They confiscated more than 6,000 pirated CDs and DVDs, and about $1,700 in cash, according to investigators. Police also seized computers used to record the counterfeits, and vehicles used to transport them.

Gillson said authorities organized Operation Desert Pirate after receiving complaints from bona fide sellers.

“The pirating activity not only seriously undercuts the profit margin of tax-paying, law-abiding businesses; it also deprives many area residents of jobs they might otherwise have in the audio-video retail sales market,” Gillson wrote.

Gillson intends to prosecute each vendor citing a statute enacted in 1991, the Unauthorized Recording Act, according to the news release. The law prohibits the sell — or the offer to sell — copyrighted goods recorded without consent from the copyright owner. Penalties can include 1 and 1/2 years in prison, and a fine up to $5,000.

Reporter Phil Stake can be reached at philip.stake@gmail.com, or by calling (505) 863-6811 x223.