Baltimore Man Admits Recording 2 Movies at Theater

What's the best way to catch someone illegally recording a movie in a theater?

On video, apparently.

That is how a 31-year-old Baltimore man was caught making an illicit video of the Disney film "Enchanted" last year in one of the theaters at Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14 in Northwest Washington.

In pleading guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to two counts of recording a motion picture without authorization, Michael D. Logan admitted that he illicitly used a video camera to record "Enchanted" and another movie, "28 Weeks Later," at the same theater.

Logan is to be sentenced in October and faces a likely term of between 18 and 24 months, under federal guidelines. He is free pending sentencing. B. Eugene Fulghum, a defense attorney, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

FBI agents wrote in court documents that Logan was nabbed through the Motion Picture Association of America's Covert Anti-Camcording System, which was installed at the Regal Cinemas in November. Just before the 12:40 p.m. showing of "Enchanted" on Nov. 24, an MPAA investigator spotted Logan on the surveillance system, authorities said.

Logan was seated in the last row of seats and began recording the movie on his JVC camera, prosecutors wrote in court papers. The investigator called D.C. police, who arrested Logan and confiscated the camera, which contained about 50 minutes of "Enchanted" footage, prosecutors wrote.

Using forensic tools, MPAA investigators linked "numerous pirated" movies to the one Logan recorded on his video camera, prosecutors wrote. Among those links: Investigators recognized Logan's voice on the other bootlegged movies, prosecutors wrote. Logan also used a baseball cap to disguise the video camera, and the "presence of air hole ringlets from the baseball cap . . . are visible on the illegal recordings," prosecutors added.

Prosecutors wrote that Logan's voice could be heard on a pirated version of the film "28 Weeks Later," which MPAA investigators purchased on the streets of New York on May 11 and May 15 of last year. Investigators believe that Logan recorded that film May 11 at the Regal Cinemas, prosecutors wrote.

The MPAA has launched an aggressive campaign in recent years to combat what it estimates to be $18 billion in worldwide losses to bootlegging annually. After recording a movie, bootleggers upload the films to the Internet or churn out thousands of DVDs to be sold on the street.

"We recognize the damage that one individual can do with a high-quality camcorder," said Michael Robinson, vice president of anti-piracy operations at the movie association.