Alleged Movie Bootlegger Busted; Suspected to Be Part Of International Ring
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A movie bootlegger has had his last run.
As WBBM Newsradio's Felicia Middlebrooks reports, Gerardo Arellano, a suspect in a global movie piracy ring has been arrested in Chicago.
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The FBI says Arellano, 35, is part of an international movie piracy ring that illegally duplicates and distributes first-run motion pictures.
He was arrested last week outside his home in the 4400 block of South Marshfield Avenue, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, after being named in an indictment returned back last October and unsealed this past Friday.
He stands charged with two felony counts – unauthorized trafficking of a motion picture and unauthorized recording of a motion picture, the FBI says in a news release.
Arellano has been under investigation since 2009, when he was arrested by South Barrington police for sitting in a local theater videotaping "Hannah Montana: The Movie" as it played on the screen.
A search of his home, then in Hoffman Estates, uncovered thousands of illegally duplicated movies, as well as black CDs and DVDs and high-speed dubbing equipment, the release said.
Since then, the FBI has linked Arellano to the piracy ring.
Arellano is being held without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown, after an initial appearance this past Thursday before U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel.
Zagel will return to federal court at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to eight years in prison.
