Merced Resident Pleads Guilty to Participating in Large-Scale Conspiracy to Sell Counterfeit Music and Movies

FRESNO, CA—Luis Puntos Coahuilas, aka Luis Coahuilas Puntos, 24, of Merced, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and traffic in counterfeit labels, illicit labels, and counterfeit documentation and packaging, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to the plea agreement, between January 2010 and November 2010, Puntos, along with co-conspirators, sold counterfeit music CDs and motion picture DVDs to the public at the Galt Market and at other flea markets in the Eastern District of California. Puntos was employed by co-defendant Victor Puga Quiroz to sell the counterfeit media and assisted Quiroz in storing the counterfeit media. Puntos admitted that the genuine versions of the counterfeit music CDs and motion picture DVDs seized from them on November 16, 2010 had a retail value exceeding $1 million.

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.

Puntos is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on August 27, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. Puntos faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.