Charges Laid In Relation To Child Pornography

New Zealand Police Waikato News Release
11:15am 24 July 2008
http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release.html?id=4148

24 July 2008

A Hamilton man scheduled to face charges in the Hamilton District Court today in relation to a high profile breach of copyright case is now facing more serious charges.

Detective Sergeant Neville Ross of the North Hamilton Criminal Investigation Unit said the man, a 28-year-old Asian, originally faced charges relating to a large scale movie pirating operation in which he is alleged to have been selling pirated DVDs on a Mandarin language web site.

"This resulted from a joint operation we carried out with the New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZFACT) last month which led to him facing a total of 4 charges relating to his offering and selling of movies protected by copyright," said Mr Ross.

"At the time a number of computer hard drives were seized for forensic analysis which has been completed and as a result the man is now also facing 27 charges of possessing objectionable material and one charge of making such publications."

Mr Ross said these additional charges relate to child pornography movies located in the offender's possession and adult movies of an objectionable nature.

"A website believed to be linked to this man has been identified as listing such objectionable movies for sale and we are currently initiating further enquiries in relation to this site.

"These new charges carry with them maximum penalties ranging from five years to 10 years imprisonment or fines with a maximum of $10,000- $50,000 per offence.

End

© Scoop Media