Sacramento Man Sentenced to Prison for Conspiracy to Sell Counterfeit Media
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 23, 2012 |
FRESNO—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced Eleazar Ortiz Gomez, aka Eleazar Gomez Ortiz, 29, of Sacramento, today to three years and six months in federal prison for conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement and traffic in counterfeit labels, illicit labels and counterfeit documentation and packaging, in connection with his sales and distribution of counterfeit music CDs and motion picture DVDs. He was also ordered to pay $265,066.58 in restitution to the victim copyright-holders.
Gomez pleaded guilty on November 7, 2011. He admitted that from January 2010 to November 2010, he procured several thousand counterfeit music CDs and motion picture DVDs on a regular basis from a warehouse operating in San Jose. Gomez and his co-conspirators sold the counterfeit CDs and DVDs to the public at the Galt Market, a flea market in Galt, and at other flea markets in the Sacramento area. Gomez further sold counterfeit CDs and DVDs from the garage of his residence and converted the garage to appear as a video and music store, complete with aisles and shelving to hold the counterfeit media. On November 16, 2010 more than 10,000 copyright-infringing DVDs and more than 24,000 copyright-infringing music CDs were seized from Gomez’s residence and vehicle.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Henry Z. Carbajal III and Brian W. Enos are prosecuting the case.
Charges against co-defendants Alfredo Colorado, Victor Puga Quiroz, of Modesto, Luis Coahuilas Puntos, of Merced, and Abel Fabela Zaragoza, of Sacramento, are pending. Puntos is scheduled for a hearing before Judge Ishii on February 6, 2012. The remaining three are scheduled for a hearing before Judge Ishii on February 21, 2012. The charges against them are only allegations, and they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.