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# Feds enact revenge on ‘Star Wars’ pirates
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/feds-enact-revenge-on-star-wars-pirates/
- Published: 2005-09-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:49:49.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Stolen ‘Star Wars’ video was blasted onto Internet*

*By Daily Press staff*

Eight people were charged Tuesday in relation to the piracy of “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” which ended up on the Internet the day before the blockbuster film’s opening worldwide.

According to court documents, a man took a copy of “Revenge of the Sith” from a post-production facility and shared it with others, one of whom put the movie on the Internet, according to federal authorities.

In other copyright infringement cases involving Holly wood, two other individuals were charged with distributing copies of Academy Awards “screeners” — movies that had not been released for home viewing.

According to documents filed in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, just days before the worldwide release of the final Star Wars movie, several events transpired.

Albert Valente, 28, of Lakewood, allegedly took a copy of the movie from the post-production facility where he worked, then loaned the copy of the movie to a friend, Jessie I. Lumada, 28, of Long Beach, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office.

Lumada gave the movie to Ramon G. Valdez, 30, of Long Beach, who then shared the copy with three people — Michael J. Fousse, 42, of Monrovia; Dwight Wayne Sityar, 27, of La Crescenta; and Stephani Reiko Gima, 25, of Los Angeles, all of whom worked with Valdez at a Los Angeles-based cable company, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office.

Gima allegedly made a copy of the movie and gave it to her cousin, Joel De Sagun Dimaano, 33, of Los Angeles. Dimaano allegedly loaned his copy to Marc D. Hoaglin, 36, of Huntington Beach, who uploaded the film onto the Internet on May 18, 2005 — the day before “Star Wars: Episode III” opened in theaters.

Valente, who has agreed to plead guilty, has been charged with willfully infringing a copyright by distributing his copy of “Star Wars: Episode III”, according to federal authorities. Lumada, Valdez, Fousse, Sityar, Gima and Dimaano are charged with willfully infringing a copyright by distributing or reproducing copies of the film. The seven defendants are charged with misdemeanors that carry up to one year in federal prison.

Hoaglin is charged in the same complaint with one count of uploading the movie onto the Internet, a felony under the recently enacted Family Entertain ment Copyright Act. Hoaglin, if convicted, could be sentenced to as much as three years in federal prison, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office.

All of the defendants have been summoned to appear in federal court in Los Angeles next month.

In an unrelated case, Ronald Redding, 37, of Linthicum Heights, Maryland, was charged on Tuesday with giving his copy of “Million Dollar Baby” to a friend, even though the movie had been provided to him solely to “screen” for purposes of voting for the Academy Awards. The complaint charges Redding, who has agreed to plead guilty, with a misdemeanor charge of willfully infringing a copyright by distributing this film.

Elsewhere, Eric Wright, 43, of Bellflower, Calif., pleaded guilty Monday to a single count of trafficking in counterfeit DVD labels attached to copyrighted movies. Appearing before United States District Judge Audrey B. Collins, Wright admitted making unauthorized copies of “The Incredibles” and “Friday Night Lights,” affixing counterfeit labels to those copies, and selling the DVDs.

Wright, who faces up to five years in federal prison, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 28, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092805.pdf?ref=smdp.com)