Stefan Mileschin

The RIAA is patting itself on the back after an alleged content pirate was sentenced to 15 years in jail after a sting operation saw him selling six copyrighted items to an undercover agent.

37 year old Patrick Lashun King was lured into selling five films and one music CD to an undercover agent from the Attorney General's Intellectual Property Theft Task Force. Later searches turned up equipment for copying and over 10,000 pirated discs, along with weapons, though it is not clear whether those were legal or not. It's also not clear what King intended to do with the pirated CDs.

King had previously been found guilty, in 2003, for selling on copyrighted material and was made to serve a year under house arrest.

Copiah County Circut Court demanded King would serve 15 years along with a further three on supervised release, TorrentFreak reports.

Executive VP of anti-piracy at the RIAA boasted that the term showed big content still had some muscles to flex. In a statement, Buckles said the sentencing "demonstrated that theft of intellectual property is treated as a serious crime in Mississippi and highlights the fact that the individuals engaging in these activities are frequently serial criminals for whom IP theft is simply the most convenient and profitable way they could steal from others".

Buckles went on to thank the Attorney General for his leadership in "IP enforcement" and to "dedicated law enforcement officers and prosecutors who worked on the case".

Another man, Antwun Sharell Jones, was sentenced to two years for selling one pirated film.

By contrast, a Mississippi teacher was sentenced to five years in prison for sexual battery of an ex student, while a former officer got five years after pleading guilty to five counts of child exploitation. A woman, 22, accused of gun trafficking, has been told she will serve 15 years in jail.

http://news.techeye.net/internet/ria...-for-cd-pirate