Pahrump couple arrested on DVD piracy charges
PAHRUMP — Nye County sheriff’s deputies investigating a domestic violence call found 4,000 copies of movies and television shows in what they suspect was a pirating operation.
They also found computer devices used for copying and packaging materials for mailing.
A couple living at the home said the seized DVDs were actually legally held, un-copyrighted old black-and-white westerns they were selling to collectors to fund the man’s cancer treatment, according to investigators.
Paul Buchsbaum, 31, and Jennifer McGuire, 30, were arrested Monday after deputies were dispatched to their home on Marne Court for a report of domestic.
McGuire told deputies the recordings were part of her husband’s business. She said Buchsbaum produced and the DVDs and had set up numerous websites where pople could purchase them.
When asked what her involvement in the business was, she told police all she did was deliver the packaged items to the post office.
McGuire she and her husband had on average been generating about $200,000 in revenue annually from sales of their DVDs.
McGuire told deputies it was a misunderstanding, explaining that the movies her husband was producing copies of were old, black-and-white westerns from the 30s and 40s, which had no owners and had never been made into a DVD or VHS for commercial sale.
She said the business began more than a year ago after her husband became ill with cancer and then developed epilepsy, which prevented him from finding traditional work outside the home. The money earned by the operation was being used to support the family and pay for his cancer treatments, she added.
Buchsbaum was arrested on charges of domestic battery, kidnapping and felony use of an electronic stun device. McGuire was arrested on charges of unlawful acts regarding computers, theft and conspiracy to commit theft. She was transported to the Nye County Detention Center to be booked into custody along with her husband.
McGuire was released by a judge the following morning on her own recognizance.
Buchsbaum, however, remained in custody as of Thursday morning in lieu of $27,500 bail.
Contact Pahrump Valley Times reporter Kelsey Givens at kgivens@pvtimes.com.
