The long arm of the law, in the form of the FCC, has caught up with pirates operating in Brooklyn NY and the Fort Lauderdale area in Florida were nailed on piracy charges, despite the fact that both claimed they were not pirates, just the hosts of pirates.
A pair of pirates was involved in the Brooklyn keel-hauling – Andre Alleyne and Jessie White. The station tracked to their residence, a Flatbush apartment in Brooklyn, was operating on 96.5 MHz. The FCC caught up with the operation on 7/23/08. Although agents were refused entry into the duo’s apartment to look for station equipment, White did shut the station down.
Attempting to duck the standard $10K fine, they said they were housing the station for another individual and were not involved with it, although Alleyne did admit to helping to install an antenna on the building’s roof. They also claimed ignorance of the law and inability to pay.
The FCC bought none of it. The poverty plea in particular was undocumented and the other two pleas never wash with the Commission.
The Florida station was working 95.9 MHz out of Lauderhill FL and was tracked down by the FCC 7/12/10, operating in the residence of Christopher M. Myers.
Myers claimed he didn’t actually live there, that the station was operated by somebody else, that when asked to do so by the FCC he shut the station down and also said he couldn’t afford to pay $10K.
Again, none of the pleas worked – the FCC said there was ample evidence that even if Myers may have since moved, he did live at the condo where the station was found at the time that it was found. However, Myers did submit financial evidence to support his claim of poverty, and on the strength of it, the FCC reduced his fine to $5K.
