Rosemont, IL (The Weekly Vice) - Samantha Tumpach, a 22-year-old Illinois woman faces up to three years in jail after she recorded short clips of a movie during sister's birthday party at an area movie theater.
Having cleaned up Chicago of all it's violent crime.... the state of Illinois can now focus on those more important criminal cases... like recording 4 minutes of video inside a Rosemont area movie theater.
According to Rosemont police, Tumpach was inside the theater watching Twilight: New Moon, when a theater worker noticed her filming part of the movie with a small digital camera.
Police examined the camera and found two short clips of the movie - lasting no more than 4 minutes, according to police spokerson Frank Sicillano. Tumpach was arrested after theater managers insisted on pressing charges, he said.
Tumpach says she didn't intend to break any law - but was recording parts of her sister's birthday party, which included a trip to the movies. The camera contained shots of family members who posed out in the theater lobby.
"We sang happy birthday to her in the theater," said Tumpach. "It was never my intention to record the movie."
The video, which was captured back in July when the incident took place, also contained clips of Tumpach as she fiddled with camera settings. Much of the short-lived video captured advertisements that play before the actual movie began.
Tumpach was booked into jail, where she remained for two nights awaiting a bond hearing. She was charged with criminal use of a motion picture exhibition - a felony charge designed to prevent capturing and then selling bootleg copies of a motion picture.
The Weekly Vice Opinion:
Before reading any further, be warned..... cussing is about to ensue.
In the two years the Weekly Vice has been reporting crime related material, I've never encountered a case of such monumental bullshit. If anyone can tell us what movie theater complex insisted on pressing such fucked up charges - we'll post it here.
Fucktards of this nature don't deserve business in a revenue starved economy if they aren't smart enough to know this woman never intended to bootleg a movie.
Danny Vice
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31 comments:
Danny V...
Of all the things wrong in this world, she faces up to 3 years in prison? For THIS? rapists get more lenient sentences. I know she hasn't been sentenced yet...but this boggles my mind.
Danny V...
Of all the things wrong in this world, she faces up to 3 years in prison? For THIS? rapists get more lenient sentences. I know she hasn't been sentenced yet...but this boggles my mind.
The theater doesn't give a damn, but they are compelled by the brutal arm of the movie industry to do this. If they didn't they would be in as much trouble as the girl, and probably more. A lot of the bootlegging of videos is done by theater employees, so the production companies are always watching. The only solution is to eliminate the monopolies that government confers with patents and copyrights.
Nicolas: Nice try, but inaccurate. Before going on; yes, I manage a movie theatre. Production companies have never been seen in here monitoring bootleg filming activity. Usually these type of cases are only continued after the fact - for example, if a unauthorized clip shows up on YouTube. Personal use - although technically still illegal - by and large are ignored. The fact that the other clips on the camera seem to substantiate the woman's claim of taping a birthday party make the managers look very, very foolish indeed.
LOL… Danny said Fucktards! Seriously though, leave it to the great state of Illinois to have a story like this. This state has probably the most corrupt government of any of the 50 states and they have the nerve to go after people like this woman? If the entire police force concentrated on local and state government personnel, they would have enough work to last for the next ten years. WASTE OF TAX MONEY AT IT’S BEST!
It was the Muvico Theater in Rosemont. I live in Chicago, and believe me, this theater is the small fry in town as I am only aware of one location. What great PR! I plan on boycotting these idiots.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1916606,twilight-taping-arrest-movie-120209.article
Wow Danny I haven't seen you feel this strongly about a story in a long time!
On that note, I agree. When are the music and film industries going to realize that going after innocent people like this is not going to get rid of the bootleggers. They have been around for a long, long time (since before the internet) and are not going anywhere. When one source of downloading gets stopped, a bigger better source takes it's place (I.E. torrents...way better then Napster) and the fact of the matter is this woman wasn't even bootlegging! HUGE waste of taxpayer's money. Good going IL.
Although I don't agree with sitting in a movie theater recording a movie (mainly because the quality is shit...lol) I see nothing wrong with sharing files online. The damn music and film industries are making enough money that we are not breaking the bank when we want to "preview" something. If anything, it gets more people to watch movies and listen to music, and those people become fans and go out and by the DVDs and CDs. I don't know how many times people have downloaded something, and then went out and bought the prequel because we actually were able to watch/listen to the first one. Or they were broke in the first place and can't even afford to go see or rent a movie.....
http://www.cracked.com/funny-3294-torrents/ (for those of you more interested in torrents)
We are also missing the long term effects if she is convicted. Every job app she fills out asks if she has ever been convicted of a felony. I hope the judge and jury, if it does go far enough, set her free and the judge goes after the movie company for even pushing the issue.
Though if the jury is similar to the jury that fined the the Minnesota woman millions for 20 songs downloaded "illegally", this girl may end up with the death penalty.
Yeah, celebrities and all those involved make way too much money anyway. They do not need my measly dollars, I DO! It's a shame in this country how they make more than neurologists, and other such people that contribute to the good of others. To top it off, TOUGH schooling. I respect a neurologist, not a moviestar or producer.
Surely if the Judge has any brains, he won't sentence her.
Well, I'm pretty sure that if the theater was showing Twilight: New Moon last July, then it was showing a bootleg copy itself, since that movie came out 2 weeks ago on November 20th.
Like I said before, our justice system is all screwed up and is just about money for the lawyers.
She spent 2 nights in jail for this nonsense?
How can the police even arrest her over this?
I am waiting to see what the dirt bag judge does in her case. The charges should be dropped immediately and the girl be given money for her troubles.
Sorry guys, but how old is this girl? Unless you or she are retarded you know the LAW is you CAN NOT bring a video camera inside and record ANY of a movie. It does not matter what her excuse was, it does not matter how little of it she really recorded, it does not matter that it was all for a birthday party...it is a law for a reason. Bitch and complain about something else.
Hey Sam!
Don't be mad, get even. Find a good lawyer, and sue the theater and city for as much as you can (2 days in jail for a 22 YO innocent woman can make a descent sum).
For the bozo right above who wrote "Bitch and complain about something else.", I am glad you are the only retard poster here. Its time to get your head out of your ass, the sun has risen and the dark ages are over (well at least mostly). Its time to get your totalitarian mindset and those grabby hands off our law books. Its time you respect Sam's constitutional right at least as much as you respect the rights of the air-heads in Hollywood.
Fire-God (real name)
Anonymous (the second one) - do you just write idiotic comments to get a rise out of folks? Perhaps you can't - ah - get a rise any other way... guess that's something to consider.
And Danny, +1 on your accurate use of "fucktards." Beautifully executed.
This girl was CLEARLY not taping this for bootlegging purposes.
I'd bet anything this wasn't the worst crime being committed in that town on that night.
Nice police work there, Lou.
The fact that this morphed so quickly into an anti-copyright rant for almost everyone, just shows why I am here. That and the use of fucktard (right on Danny!)because this is a non story and will be gone as soon as it costs this girl money and serious hassles. So stupid...
the DA is going to throw this out but the theater managers made their point with this zero tolerance stance.
@Anon (the retarded one)
Go away, troll.
If she was taking pictures in the lobby, at least one of the workers in there would have seen her. If they saw her and didn't tell her that she couldn't have the camera in the theater, then they should have to compensate her for her time. I mean, theaters aren't bright places. Even in the lobby. If she was taking pictures in the lobby there would have been a flash! Everyone would have seen it. If this were to have happened in any big name theater, they would have just came up and confiscated it, before she even got into the movie. No problems there. But this is just plain retarded. I hope whomever's decision it was to have her jailed, gets affected by Karma. A whole lot of it...I've sent this over to my pals at torrentfreak, so it will only be a matter of time...
I'd LOVE to know which theater this was. I certainly want to make sure that I never give them any business. The crazy thing is that AFTER the police shared with theater management the fact that only 4 minutes of video was on the camera and some of it was of the commercials before the movie, they STILL pressed charges. Insane and irresponsible.
Why couldn't the theater just tell her to stop? Or take her camera away for the duration of the film? Or just tell her to leave? Now she is slapped with a felony charge and can lose her rights to vote and bear arms. Not to mention that she may have to fill out "yes" that she is a felon on job applications. I mean, REALLY, if she was there to pirate a film, I think she would have done in a more subtle way than at a birthday party.
Truly grotesque - what the hell did these fascists think she was going to do, make pirated copies featuring all of four minutes of the movie? Just a bunch of thugs throwing their weight around, thats all these guys are.
Being an attorney in California, I am unfamiliar with Illinois law. Notwithstanding, it would seem to me that the real "crime" here is in the form of prosecutorial misconduct, not what this girl did.
How any DA could bring charges in light of the essentially non existent evidence and clear lack of intent, is beyond me. I would also be very concerned how the police actually obtained the content on the camera and the admissability of the "evidence" that they base these absurd charges upon.
People in Illinois need to boycott this theatre and find a new and more responsible prosecutor for their fair city.
As someone who had dealt with talkers during a movie, anyone who sings "Happy Birthday" in a theater deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Who are the fucktards that made this "crime" a felony?
Why? because the it is a crime of MONEY! I guess the billionaire fatcats in Hollywood don't have enough money.
TWO NIGHTS IN JAIL?! What kind of draconian law is that?
What a joke.
Hey Danny, I copied this story and printed it so I could show it to my wife. Dude, you're not gonna have me thrown in jail are you? LMAO! This story is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of.
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/twilight.rosemont.movie.2.1345928.html
"The incident happened Saturday about 1:20 p.m. at the Muvico Theater, 9701 Bryn Mawr Ave., according to Kania."
Tony Fields Vice President Marketing Muvico Theaters, Inc. Office: (954) 564-6550 Cell : (641) 453-4517 Email: tony.fields@muvico.com www.muvico.com
This is just asinine.
You'd think that once the police watched the tape they'd be satisfied that there was no intentional wrong doing. What a load of nonsense.
You'd think that once the police watched the tape they'd be satisfied that there was no intentional wrong doing. What a load of nonsense.
I have a question: How did this happen during July when New Moon wasn't released until November? (I know b/c I attended a premiere party complete with limo and professional photographer...and I know theater employees saw the party organizer with her camera).
Second, how did she stay in jail for 2 nights for this? It sounds like maybe this is a small town and there is something weird going on.
AND why didn't they just erase the video?
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