Ypsilanti woman sentenced to 2 years in prison for selling more than $400,000 in pirated software
An Ypsilanti woman was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for selling more than $400,000 worth of counterfeit computer software, federal officials said.
Jacinda Jones, 31, was also ordered to pay $441,035 in restitution and will have 3 years of supervised release following her prison term under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson in Detroit. Jones pleaded guilty in April to one count of willful copyright infringement before Lawson.
According to court documents, Jones took in more than $400,000 between July 2008 and January 2010 by selling more than 7,000 copies of pirated business software at discounted prices through the website www.cheapdl.com, the Department of Justice said in a press release. The software, made by Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit and Symantec, among others, had a retail value of more than $2 million, the government said.
Undercover U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made several software purchases from Jones, the release said.
The government had sought a longer sentence, noting in court documents that advisory sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 37 to 46 months in prison
The Department of Justice said the investigation is an example of efforts by a Task Force on Intellectual Property created by Attorney General Eric Holder to combat what the department said is a growing number of domestic and international intellectual property crimes.
Comments
Jimmy McNulty
Wed, Aug 17, 2011 : 12:07 p.m.
So Cash is saying it's OK to steal and resell other people's property as long as it's stolen from a corporation. Yes, large corporations have large legal staffs to deal with theft.
RJA
Wed, Aug 17, 2011 : 5:33 a.m.
A decision has been made, let it be!
Cash
Tue, Aug 16, 2011 : 9:11 p.m.
Boy the long arm of the law sure does reach out and grab people who cross Microsoft, etc! That's a long sentence...2 yrs and the feds wanted 4 yrs....goodness. Don't touch Miscrosoft profits!
Sallyxyz
Tue, Aug 16, 2011 : 8:13 p.m.
Where is the photo of the perp?
jinxplayer
Tue, Aug 16, 2011 : 6:59 p.m.
Remember kiddies, the only way you will get busted for illegal software is if you try to profit off it it, like Ms. Jones did here. Also, don't DDoS from home without using at least one proxy.