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.
###