Sentencing of Married Couple for Motion Picture Piracy

Luis S. Fraticelli, Special Agent in Charge, San Juan Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sergio Rubio Paredes, Interim Director of the Special Investigations Bureau (NIE, initials in Spanish) of the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, and Pedro Toledo-Davila, Superintendent of the Police of Puerto Rico (POPR), announce the sentencing of Alejandro Babilonia and his wife, Betzaida Muñiz for motion picture piracy.

Today, Babilonia, age 33, and Muñiz, age 32, residents of Moca, Puerto Rico were sentenced each to 24 months of imprisonment, and three years of supervised release. In addition, U.S. District Court Judge, Jose A. Fuste ordered them to pay a total of $70,000.00 in restitution to the Motion Picture Association of America and $70,000.00 in forfeiture to the U.S. Government.

On October 27, 2005, Babilonia and Muñiz pled guilty to operating a laboratory in which pirated motion pictures were mass produced, as well as to distributing these motion pictures throughout the western portion of the island of Puerto Rico. Bablionia and Muñiz pled guilty to violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 2318(a) (Trafficking in Counterfeit Labels), Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 2319 (b)(1)&(2) (Criminal Infringement of Copyright), and Title 17, U.S. Code, Section 506 (a)(1) (Criminal Infringement).

Over 14,000 pirated motion pictures were seized from their residence and their two video stores located in Aguadilla and Moca, Puerto Rico. The seizures were a culmination of a nine month investigation conducted by the FBI, NIE, and POPR. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jenifer Hernández.

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