REGIONAL BRIEFING

SOFTWARE PIRACY

Web Site Owner Draws 87 Months

The owner of one the nation's largest Internet software piracy Web sites was sentenced yesterday to more than seven years in prison.

In addition to receiving an 87-month sentence, Nathan Peterson was ordered to pay restitution of more than $5.4 million and to forfeit the proceeds of his scheme, which included homes, cars and a boat.

Peterson, 27, pleaded guilty in December in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to two counts of copyright infringement.

Prosecutors said Peterson sold products copyrighted by companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. at a huge discount on his Web site. Justice Department and industry officials called it one of the largest cases of Internet software piracy ever prosecuted.

-- Jerry Markon

CHARLES COUNTY ARSONS

Judge Orders Prison, Restitution

A federal judge sentenced a Waldorf man yesterday to 44 months in prison in connection with the 2004 arson fires at the Hunters Brooke neighborhood in Charles County, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office said.

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus also ordered that Michael Everhart, 21, pay restitution of more than $3.2 million.

Everhart was tried in March in the arson fires that devastated a subdivision under construction in Charles County early Dec. 6, 2004. The trial ended with a hung jury March 16, and Titus declared a mistrial.