Two sentenced to prison for online copyright infringement

Two members of the Internet piracy group IMAGiNE were sentenced to prison on Friday for their role in distributing illegal copies of movies online.

The sentences are part of the joint effort of the Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to crack down on online copyright infringement. 

Willie Lambert, 57, of Pittston, Pa., was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised released and $449,514 in restitution. Sean Lovelady, 28, of Pomona, Calif., was sentenced to 23 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $7,500 of restitution. They both pleaded guilty earlier this year.

Two other members of the group have also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in the coming months.

Prosecutors said IMAGiNE sought to become the premier group for releasing online copies of movies that were still in theaters. 

According to court documents, Lambert and Lovelady went to theaters and recorded the audio of the films. Those audio tracks were combined with illegally obtained video files to create the full movie, which was then loaded online. 

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