FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Monday, May 21, 2012
Docket #: 1:11-CR-407-LJO; 1:11-CR-414-LJO

FRESNO, Calif. —U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sentenced four Fresno residents for trafficking in pirated movies and music, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Brothers Lauro Perez-Perez, 25, and Ruben Perez-Perez, 25, were each sentenced to a year in prison. Their sister Maria del Pilar Perez-Perez, 23, was sentenced to six months in prison. On May 7, 2012, co-conspirator Ernesto Colorado-Herrera, 30, was sentenced to six months in prison. All four individuals pleaded guilty on March 5, 2012.

According to court documents, in October 2011, the defendants sold counterfeit movie DVDs and music CDs in Fresno County. In connection with the cases, thousands of pirated movie DVDs and music CDs were seized as well as multidrive DVD burners, hundreds of blank DVDs and CDs, and label and packaging material.

“Commercial piracy and product counterfeiting undermine the U.S. economy, rob Americans of jobs, stifle American innovation and promote other types of crime," said Paul Leonardi, resident agent in charge of HSI in Fresno. “HSI will continue to use its enforcement authorities in order to protect the jobs, the income and the tax revenue that disappear when criminals and criminal organizations traffic in stolen content for their own profit.”

These cases were the product of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Garriques prosecuted the cases.

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