Accused music pirate pleads guilty

A CHAGUANAS man accused of producing, selling and making nearly half  a million dollars in pirated CDs pleaded guilty when he appeared before a magistrate yesterday.

Roger Stone, 45, of 78 Aberdeen Park, East Edinburgh Gardens, Chaguanas, appeared before Chaguanas Magistrate Margaret Alert and admitted to possession of some 6,321 burnt CDs and seven CD burners which police seized from a bedroom in his home on Thursday. Although a large number of goods were seized in the raid, only two boxes of burnt CDs, one box of CD labels, and one CD burner were produced in court as evidence against Stone.

Following the three-hour raid, Stone faced three charges under the Copyright Act of 1997. The raid was a joint exercise by policemen of the Central Division and officers of the  Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT). The charges were laid by PC Assing of the Chaguanas Police Station. However, after police prosecutor Sgt Samlal read the facts of the case, Stone’s attorney Victor Hosein contended that Stone had only been formally charged by the police for the illegal burning of three CD albums by Shadow, Soca 2004 and Scrunter, and not for possession of 6,321 CDs. The magistrate placed Stone on his own bail of $15,000, to reappear in court on Tuesday