Police confiscate CDs at Convention Center

If the price of a new CD seems a little too good to be true, it’s probably a bootleg.

Spokane police on Friday confiscated 1,316 pirated CDs – by artists such as Shakira, Tupac, Justin Timberlake and Eminem – that were being sold at the “Super Liquidation Sell” trade show at the Spokane Convention Center.

“It’s unusual to find something like this in Spokane,” police Cpl. Jon Strickland said.

Authorities were tipped to the bootlegged CDs by a trade show customer. The caller told police of two booths thought to be selling the computer-burned copies of music.

About 4:20 p.m., Officer Matt Rose went to the Convention Center to investigate. While he was talking to a woman in the first booth – she turned out to be legitimate – the man at the next table disappeared.

“He took his cash box but he left his (warm) dinner” and the CDs, said police Sgt. J.D. Anderson.

The event organizer, located on the East Coast, wasn’t available Friday, so officers were unable to get the name of the man selling the bootlegs. Strickland said the Convention Center management had no idea anything illegal was taking place and assisted police in the investigation.

Police loaded the CDs into boxes, which filled a patrol car’s back seat and the trunk. The handmade signs, also seized, listed the price as two discs for $6 or one for $5.

The bootlegging was obvious by the blurry quality of the CD covers’ print, plus the CD inside looked like ones bought in bulk at a computer store, police said.

Police plan to notify the FBI of the bust. If the federal agency doesn’t take over the case, the vendor still can be charged with theft by deception, Strickland said.

“It should be noted that whoever copied the covers for these CDs also copied the FBI warning about copying copyrighted material,” he said.