San Jose Man Pleads Guilty to Extensive Couterfeit Media Conspiracy

FRESNO—Jose Alfredo Colorado Munoz, 29, of San Jose, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to traffic in counterfeit music CDs and movie DVDs, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to the plea agreement, from January 2010 to November 2010, Colorado and others operated a warehouse in San Jose, where they regularly sold thousands of counterfeit music CDs and sold and manufactured thousands of counterfeit motion picture DVDs. Inside the warehouse were networked computers, printers, and media disk duplicator hardware. The counterfeit CDs and DVDs were regularly sold by co-conspirators at the open-air Galt Market, the Modesto 7th Street flea market, and at other flea markets. Colorado also personally sold counterfeit music CDs at the Modesto 7th Street flea market. If genuine, the counterfeit music CDs and motion picture DVDs seized from the San Jose warehouse would have had a retail value exceeding $2.6 million.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Henry Z. Carbajal III and Brian W. Enos prosecuted the case.

Colorado is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on September 17, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. The maximum statutory penalty is five years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.