Deputies said they had unauthorized copies of music CDs at the Wagon Wheel Flea Market.
By YUXING ZHENG
Published November 15, 2005
A day at the market Saturday turned into a visit to jail for three men, including one from North Pinellas.
Kenneth Norman Long, 53, of Oldsmar was one of three vendors arrested Saturday afternoon and charged with unauthorized copy of a compact disc after trying to sell counterfeit CDs at a flea market, Pinellas County sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said.
Dean Martin Cooper, 40, of St. Petersburg and Tommy Lee Lyons, 40, of Tampa also were arrested at the Wagon Wheel Flea Market in Pinellas Park.
All three were taken to the Pinellas County Jail, where Long was being held Monday in lieu of $5,000 bail. Cooper, who could not be reached Monday, was released Saturday after posting $10,000 bail. Lyons, who declined comment, was also released Saturday after posting $5,000 bail.
Sheriff's detectives arrived at the flea market Saturday after receiving a tip early last week from Recording Industry Association of America agents. Once there, plainclothes detectives discovered the three men's booths, which were not affiliated with each other.
Detectives arrested the three and confiscated 5,859 CDs - 259 from Lyons, 2,500 from Long and 3,100 from Cooper. Most of the CDs contained Latin and hip-hop music.
The men were selling the CDs for about $5 each. It's unclear how long the men had been selling the CDs or how much they had made. Detectives think the suspects obtained the music from the Internet or other CDs before copying them to rewritable discs they sold in jewel cases, McMullen said.
Detectives did not buy any of the CDs but could tell they were counterfeit based on information from recording industry officials and a closer inspection.
"The essence is that the covers are not professionally done," McMullen said. "At some points the CDs are marked with ink. It's pretty obvious if you see these CDs."
Saturday's arrests were the first such arrests made this year by sheriff's deputies. Based on the number of CDs each man possessed, the charge each faces amounts to a third-degree felony. The sheriff's economic crimes section receives similar tips from the recording industry several times each year, McMullen said.
Jim Chapman, one of Long's neighbors, described him Monday as a "nice guy" who was calm, low-key and responsible. Chapman, 44, said he never suspected anything from Long, who moved back to Oldsmar about a month ago after spending time in New England.
"I know he had a vast CD collection because I saw him carrying them up when he was moving in," Chapman said. "When I got my iPod, I jokingly told him he could make a fortune on eBay selling his CDs because he had so many of them."
--Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Yuxing Zheng can be reached at 727 445-4163 or at yzheng@sptimes.com
