winigmanSent.htm

Ohio Man Convicted on Charges of Producing Counterfeit U.S. Currency and Illegally Modifying or "hacking" Direct TV Access Cards

April 26, 2004

U.S.
Department of Justice
Northern District of Ohio
Gregory White
US Attorney
Robert W. Kern
Assistant US
Attorney
(216) 622- 3836

    Ohio Man Convicted on Charges of Producing Counterfeit U.S. Currency and Illegally Modifying or “hacking” Direct TV Access Cards      Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that on Monday, April 26, 2004, Tony R. Winigman, 36, of 615 Grant Street, Lot #14, Minerva, Ohio, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dan A. Polster to serve 12 months and 1 day in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, in connection with his conviction on charges of producing counterfeit U.S. currency and illegally modifying or “hacking” Direct TV access cards. Winigman was also ordered to pay restitution to Direct TV in the amount of $102,000.00 and a special assessment of $200 to the Crime Victim’s Fund.      On December 16, 2003, a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, returned a three count indictment charging Winigman, with one count of producing counterfeit U.S. Currency, one count of possessing analog, digital or electronic images of U.S. Currency, and one count of manufacturing, selling and distributing equipment used in connection with the unauthorized decryption of satellite television signals.      The indictment charged that between April 1, 2002, and June 17, 2002, Winigman knowingly and with the intent to defraud, falsely made, forged and counterfeited approximately twelve (12) counterfeit $50.00 U.S. Federal Reserve Notes, all bearing the same serial number, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 471. The indictment also charged that between April 1, 2002, and June 17, 2002, Winigman knowingly and with the intent to defraud, made, acquired or possessed analog, digital or electronic images of $50.00, $20.00, $10.00 and $5.00 U.S. Federal Reserve Notes, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 474. The indictment further charged that between on or about January 1, 1999, and on or about June 17, 2002, Winigman manufactured, assembled, modified, sold, and distributed approximately fifty-one (51) electrical devices (i.e. illegally modified, altered and reprogrammed DSS Satellite Access Cards) knowing and having reason to know that such devices were primarily to be used for the illegal decryption of direct-to-home satellite television signals.      On February 12, 2004, Winigman pleaded guilty to one count of producing counterfeit U.S. Currency, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 471, and one count of manufacturing, selling and distributing equipment used in connection with the unauthorized decryption of satellite television signals, in violation of Title 47, United States Code Section 506(e)(4).      This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern, Cybercrimes Coordinator at the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office, following an investigation by the Akron Office of the United States Secret Service and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department.

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