Driving a car missing its front bumper and its hood tied down with bungee cords led to a traffic stop and felony bootlegging charges for the driver, after Gwinnett County police allegedly found hundreds of illegal DVDs and CDs in the vehicle, Channel 2 Action News reported.
About 2 p.m. July 10, an officer saw a gray Acura Integra with no front bumper heading north on Ga. 29 near Oakland Road, according to a Gwinnett Police Department incident report.
The officer caught up with the Acura at a Chevron station. Its driver, Darren Oliver Smith of Lawrenceville, "seemed very nervous," the officer said in his report. Police seized his car as an unsafe vehicle, and a search was made.
"When we impound vehicles, we always conduct an inventory so we can account for all the property that's inside," Gwinnett police Cpl. Jake Smith told Channel 2.
Officers discovered numerous DVDs and CDs in the front seat, back seat, center console, floor board and hatchback trunk area, according to the incident report. Some had hand-written titles in black marker, others had home-made paper covers, and many were multiple copies of the same movie. Officers said they also found what appeared to be a hand-made catalog with movie titles.
Police said they recovered from the car 327 reproduced movies and 144 reproduced and original CDs.
"Some of these movies were actually titles that were still in theaters," Cpl. Smith said.
A copy of "Hunger Games" appeared to have been filmed from a hand-held video camera by someone sitting at the rear of the theater, police said.
The 34-year-old Darren Smith was placed under arrest, and police obtained a search warrant for his home on Valley Club drive in Lawrenceville.
There, they said they found more than 1,000 DVDs and CDs and "a very large amount of Fed-Ex air bills with 'JP Morgan' as the sender" going back two years and to destinations across the United States.
Cpl. Smith said, "There was some evidence that pointed to maybe they were selling at different shops in Atlanta as well."
Police also said there were new, high-end shoes and purses including Louis Vuitton products with tags still on them.
"I had to step over them and was still stepping on them because there were so many," the reporting officer wrote. Investigators said they also found adangerous drug, marijuana and $21,480 cash.
Smith was charged with 10 felony counts of illegal reproduction of recorded material, one felony count of drug possession, misdemeanor marijuana possession and several traffic offenses, including driving an unsafe vehicle and driving without a license, according to Gwinnett County Detention Center records. He is being held on bonds totaling $24,600.
Warrants were obtained for two other occupants of Smith's home, Troy L. Thomas, whose age was 46 or 47, and Pamela E. Smith, 40, police said. They were each charged with one count of unlawful distribution of recorded material, possession of a dangerous drug and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Both were still at large Thursday afternoon, police said.
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