Hale, a 38-year-old with previous felony convictions for heist, ran the risk of a possible sentence of 15 years for these criminal offenses, however he lowered his sentence to an optimum of 5 years through his plea offer. At the time, the DOJ credited him for taking “responsibility,” arguing that he should have an optimal decrease partially due to the fact that the overall “infringement amount” was most likely no greater than $40,000, not the “tens of millions” the DOJ declared in today’s release.

Eventually, Hale pleaded guilty to criminal copyright violation, while accepting pay restitution (the specific quantity is not clarified in the release) and return “approximately 1,160 stolen DVDs and Blu-rays” that the polices took to his previous company. Hale likewise pleaded guilty to “being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm,” the DOJ kept in mind, after polices discovered that he “unlawfully possessed a pistol that was loaded with one live round in the chamber and 13 rounds in the magazine.”

Integrating the DVD theft and gun charges, the United States District Court in Tennessee sentenced Hale to 57 months, simply except the five-year optimum sentence he might have dealt with.

In the DOJ’s news release, acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti declared the win, while cautioning that “today’s sentencing indicates our dedication to securing American development from pirates that would make use of others’ work for a fast earnings, which, in this case, expense one copyright owner 10s of countless dollars.”