Email this Document! | |
|
U.S. Department of
Justice
United States Attorney
District of Arizona |
PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- The United States Attorney's Office for the District
of Arizona announced that on November 25, 2003, a federal Grand Jury sitting
in Phoenix returned an Indictment against KIRK PATRICK ST. JOHN, 34, most
recently of Gilbert, Arizona, for his involvement in an international computer
piracy organization which stole thousands of commercial software products
before their release to the public, stripped them of their copy protection,
and then made them available for mass "bootleg" copying.
According to the Indictment, ST. JOHN, who went by the internet screen name
"thesaint," was associated with the "warez" (pronounces
"wears") group known as "DrinkorDie," a large association
of hackers and other internet software pirates located throughout the United
States and in several foreign countries, including Russia, Israel, Brazil
and western Europe. "Warez groups" are organizations that are
formed to steal and make available to their members and others all commercial
software of value, including computer and video games, application and utility
programs, music albums and motion pictures. The term "Warez" refers
to software that has had all copy protection removed, and is therefore available
for unlimited copying, free of charge, in violation of the software owner's
or publisher's copyright.
ST. JOHN's provided DrinkorDie with a "candy store" or "leach
site," a large computer server with a high-bandwidth internet connection,
upon which DrinkorDie uploaded and stored several thousand "warez,"
which he then made available for high-speed downloading by all DrinkorDie
members and affiliates, and anyone else to whom ST. JOHN allowed access.
According to the Indictment, ST. JOHN operated this candy storeidentified
to users on the internet as "Godcomplex"from his place of
employment, an internet service provider located in Phoenix, from at least
November, 2000, through November, 2001, when he moved the server and internet
connection to his Gilbert residence.
The server operated by ST. JOHN was one of several "candy stores"
in the DrinkorDie network, all of which together made available tens of
thousands of copyrighted movies, songs, computer games and other programs
for illegal copying at any given time. An analysis of the download logs
from the "Godcomplex" server operated by ST. JOHN indicated that
the free copies of software that were made from "Godcomplex" during
its last six months of operation alone resulted in a loss in retail sales
to stores, software publishers, record studios, movie theaters and DVD distributors
of at least several hundred thousand dollars.
An indictment is simply the method by which a person is charged with criminal
activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent
until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond
a reasonable doubt.
ST. JOHN was charged with one count of violating Title 18, United States
Code, Section 371, Conspiracy to violate federal criminal copyright laws,
and one count of violating Title 18, Section 2315, Possession of Stolen
Property. The charges could bring a maximum penalty of five and ten years
imprisonment, respectively, as well as up to a $250,000 fine.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by agents of the
United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"),
formerly known as the U.S. Customs Service, as part of an international
coordinated sweep known as "Operation Buccaneer," which targeted
members of DrinkorDie and several other prominent "warez groups."
CASE NUMBER: CR-03-1205-PHX
RELEASE NUMBER: 2003-209
# # #