The manager of a Grand Rapids restaurant who also admitted to being an illegal immigrant, is in jail after being accused of selling pirated and counterfeit movies.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigated Juan Luna-Hernandez after being tipped off that he was selling illegally-produced media at the restaurant he managed, Tacos El Cunado on Burton Street, according to U.S. District Court documents.
The court document show that in August of 2010, an undercover agent purchased eight pirated DVDs from the Tacos El Cunado at Tacos El Cunado for $5 each:Eclipse, Robin Hood, Jennifer's Body, Shrek Forever After, The Karate Kid, The Last Airbender, Toy Story 3, The Princess and the Frog, and Toy Story 3 .
The restaurant had about 150 movies and 100 CDs on display. "The DVD movies were displayed in containers near the cash register for the restaurant," the court documents say.
Recon Management Group LLC, which works in identifying counterfeited materials, confirmed that the packaging of the DVDs was not legitimate. It indicated that all of the movies were pirated. Four of them had not been released to DVD when the agent bought them.
The agent bought eight more movies -- Alpha & Omega 3D, Copout, Despicable Me, Grownups, How to Train Your Dragon, The A-Team, The Karate Kid, and The Other Guys -- for $5 each from Tacos El Cunado in December 2010, the court documents show. Again, all were pirated and four had not yet been released to DVD.
Finally, the agent in charge, special agent Scott Przekop, purchased one last counterfeit DVD from the restaurant on Dec. 6, 2011.
An Dec. 13 search of the premises after obtaining a warrant led to the seizure of 355 counterfeit music CDs and 150 pirated DVDs. According to court documents, Motion Picture Association of America representative James Schoenherr said that the counterfeit material was worth a total value of $5455.70.
At the time of the search, Luna-Hernandez said that he sold the counterfeits because the owner of the restaurant, Hector Lopez Huerta, told him to.
Luna-Hernandez said that he was hired by the restaurant's previous owner who has since returned to Mexico. The new owner, Huerta, allowed him to stay on as the general manager.
Luna-Hernandez said that the counterfeit sales were set up by the previous owner. He also said that the restaurant sold about 20 or 30 counterfeits each week.
Luna-Hernandez also said that he had been deported once already, but had crossed the border back into the U.S. in Arizona on foot.
Though Luna-Hernandez has not yet been charged, he is accused of trafficking in pirated music and movies, illegal re-entry into the U.S. after deportation, and unlawful employment of illegal residents.
A detention hearing for Luna-Hernandez is scheduled for Dec. 29.
No comments:
Post a Comment