ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — A store in Orange County was busted for selling pirated DVDs on Friday, deputies said.
Deputies said that signs in front of the store said that anyone who got a DVD from there was given that DVD for free and that any payment was a donation to the business. Investigators said they believe the sign was put up to make it seem like the business is not doing anything wrong, but they said that will not hold up in court.
The C&M Gallery advertises hats and handbags, but that's not what Orange County deputies found inside. Deputies seized more than 1,000 DVDs from the store, as well as two computers and 14 DVD burners. Normally bootleg DVDs are sold out of the back of a car or on the street, but deputies said the store owners were operating out of a store on Goldenrod Road.
"I wasn't shocked. I knew he was going to get busted," said Annie Nguyen, an eyewitness.
Nguyen works at the food mart next door. She said C&M's owner would hand out lists of the DVDs he was selling in the parking lot.
"The DVDs were not good quality at all," said Nguyen.
The sheriff's office found out about the store from the Motion Picture Association of America, which had a private investigator purchase some of the DVDs a week ago.
The MPAA contacted deputies from Orange County about the problem, and deputies conducted their own sting. Many of the movies the store was selling were still in theaters, such as "Cars 2" and "The Hangover 2."
Deputies said the owner could face one year in prison and a $1,000 fine for selling five or more DVDs. But because there were so many DVDs, deputies said C&M's owner could get a minimum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
WFTV is investigating to find out the location from where the DVDs came and how they got to Central Florida.
WFTV
