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L.A. cable pirate gets five years

Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:42am EDT

By Carl DiOrio

Television

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A suburban Los Angeles man has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined $350,000 for participating in an international cable-piracy scheme involving the sale of more than 100,000 cable descramblers.

Darryl Poll was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge David Levi in a case resulting from a joint investigation by federal and regional authorities. Poll pleaded guilty to eight felony charges.

Co-defendant Carlo Mireles of Captain Cook, Hawaii, also has pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the scheme. Sentencing for Mireles is set for Thursday.

Prosecutors said the plot caused the loss of more than $12 million in cable sales. Assistant U.S. attorney Robert Tice-Raskin said the two defendants operated a business based in Las Vegas and Simi Valley, Calif., that advertised specially modified cable descramblers. The devices, sold and distributed between 1998 and 2003, allowed purchasers to receive premium and pay-per-view programming without the authorization or knowledge of cable operators.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Television


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