The British town that usually is renowned for its annual tennis tournament found a trio of porn pirates in a triple-fault: they'll be paying more than $658,000, following a three-month probe that ended when their copying operation at an illegal sex shop was raided.
"This case is an excellent example of hitting criminals where it hurts them most—in their pockets," Superintendent Chris Bradford of Wimbledon's clubs and vice unit told reporters. “This money was made purely as a result of their criminal activity. My financial investigation team have worked closely with the officers from the obscene publications team, combining their information and intelligence to bring this case successfully to court."
John Garraty was ordered to pay the bulk of the money, a little over $532,000, while Michael Garratty was ordered to pay just over $125,000. Those two plus Mark Garratty ran an illegal shop selling counterfeit hardcore videos for four years. They were arrested in early December 2002, after investigators plowed through "a large volume of correspondence" and recovered a forged driver's license.
One report said that license led investigators to a bank account opened in the fictitious name that appeared on the license, an account used as a Laundromat for the money the Garrittys made with their pirated materials in shops in Wimbledon, Sydenham, and Hackney.
All three are now behind bars, having been sentenced in January following guilty pleas last November. John Garratty got the stiffest sentence at three years, with Mark Garratty getting 27 months and Michael Garratty getting nine months, all on money laundering and producing illegal porn charges.
Police raiding their shop found more than 60 video recorders, more than 5,000 cassettes, over 200 DVDs, computer equipment, DVD players, and master tapes, according to published reports.
