Local News in Brief : Prison in Tape Piracy
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An Ontario man has been sentenced to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine for participating in what prosecutors said was one of the nation’s biggest black-market operations in music cassette tapes.
U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima in Los Angeles imposed the sentence on Rosendo Villasenor Fregoso, 55.
His son, Rosendo Villasenor Galvan, 34, was placed on three years’ probation.
When the Villasenors were indicted along with two others last October, prosecutors said 10% of all counterfeit music tapes in the United States could be traced to the four men.
The alleged ringleader, Krikor Avakian, 42, of Van Nuys, was sentenced to nine months in prison and fined $10,000 in February. The fourth man, Roberto Fonseca, 28, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to three months in prison and fined $3,000.
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