Harris County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a Katy man they say was running one of the largest video piracy operations in the region.
Derrick Harrison, 29, of the 23400 block of Fernhurst Drive near Interstate 10 and Grand Parkway, was arrested June 18 after deputies found more than 4,000 DVDs in his possession including copies of the first-run movies “Cars,” “X-Men” and “Over the Hedge,” according to a Harris County Sheriff’s report.
Harrison was charged with sale or possession of unlabeled recordings and other unrelated and unspecified charges, according to a Harris County sheriff’s report. He’s being held in the Harris County Jail on $50,000 bond.
The alleged video pirating operation was revealed after Sheriff’s Deputy K. Hudson responded to a disturbance call at Harrison’s home.
Deputies entered the home, where Deputy Hudson found more than 4,000 DVDs, more than 400 CDs, four CD/DVD recorders and several computers. The DVDs and CDs were valued at $79,000, and the computer equipment had the ability to copy eight DVDs at a time. “All of these are considered tools of the trade for piracy,” the sheriff’s department said in a prepared statement.
According to a sheriff’s statement, Harrison also had nearly $700 in cash in his pocket “in rolls by denomination.”
Believing they’d uncovered a large video piracy operation, sheriff’s investigators contacted Chris Meisenhalder, whom they identified as “a representative of the motion picture industry.”
Meisenhalder “responded to the residence and verified that Harrison was in possession of copies of movies and music that had been illegally obtained,” the sheriff’s statement said.
The sheriff’s department quoted Meisenhalder as saying that first-time violators of federal piracy charges could, if convicted, be sentenced to three to five years in prison and fined up to $250,000.
