Fernando Legaspi Bernabe
LONG BEACH, California – Law enforcement officials for the second time in seven months raided a Filipino-owned video store for manufacturing and selling bootleg movies.
Fernando Legaspi Bernabe, owner of FLB Video was booked on piracy charges. Enforcers recovered more duplicating material and pirated goods. FLB was first raided in May when about 5,000 DVDs, including ABS-CBN movies and TV shows, as well as copying devices were seized.
Legaspi Bernabe and his wife were arrested then and put on felony probation after a plea deal.
“He continued to sell pirated DVDs, so today we concluded that investigation with another search warrant,” said Lt. Geoff Deedrick of the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
Search warrants were served at Bernabe’s home office just down the street from the video store. More pirated products were seized. Authorities also found a gun registered under his name, which should have been turned in as part of his initial probation.
Bernabe allegedly copy illegally Filipino and American DVDs and sell them for $10 apiece. Investigators claimed he often filled orders of movies on demand.
Enforcers found multiple burners and blank CDs for making bootleg copies to sell.
Internationally, movie piracy siphons $500 billion from companies into the underground industry and, in some cases, funds terrorism and gang activity.
As an alleged repeat offender, Bernabe, a former city council candidate, now faces possible jail time.
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