Modesto flea market raid nabs 39 in counterfeiting ring

Thirty-nine people were arrested and more than 260,000 counterfeit DVDs and CDs were seized in a raid at the Seventh Street Flea Market in Modesto this week.

FBI investigators from Sacramento and state and local law enforcement officials confiscated the Spanish-language CDs and DVDs during the bust Monday morning, said FBI spokesman Steve Dupre. The raid was the culmination of a nine-month FBI investigation into counterfeiting and illegal sales of DVDs and CDs in the area.

Dupre called it a "large ring" and said the DVDs and CDs were distributed through a ring at the Modesto market, but not produced here.

Two houses and a warehouse in Modesto and one house in Stockton also were searched Monday. Dupre said the locations of the homes and warehouse are not being released. Seven cars also were seized.

Dupre did not estimate a value of the counterfeit merchandise, but a similar seizure in Modesto-area flea markets in 2008 was estimated to be worth more than $1.5 million.

Approximately 80 officers were involved in the raid. Besides the FBI, officers from the Stanislaus and Sacramento County Sheriff's Departments and the Sacramento High Tech Crimes Task Force assisted.

Dupre said the 39 suspects were booked into Stanislaus County Jail and face numerous state and local counterfeiting charges.

"The recording industry is happy because that's money out of their pockets," Dupre said. "These sorts of busts are not that regular. The last one we had around this size was last year."

In May 2010, two Turlock residents were sentenced to prison for operating a major Internet counterfeit DVD ring. That case involved more than 128,000 individual DVDs that were packaged and shipped to customers. The two defendants received 10- and seven-year sentences, respectively.

In 2008, Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies and San Jose police detectives were involved in a similar raid in the Bay Area where more than 200,000 pirated, bootlegged and counterfeit DVDs and CDs were seized that were being sold in flea markets in Modesto, Ceres and Turlock.

Counterfeiting and piracy of CDs and DVDs has become such a statewide problem that state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, has introduced a bill that would allow police to search disc manufacturing plants without a warrant. Senate Bill 550 is being backed by the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Bee staff writer Marijke Rowland can be reached at mrowland@modbee.com or (209) 578-2284.