The mother of all DVD bootleg peddlers was arrested in Chicago for running the biggest black market operation ever in Cook County.
Officials say Akpezi Mokedi, 34, an un-documented Nigerian woman, ran an illegal operation that moved thousands upon thousands of counterfeit DVDs, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Investigators seized 6,500 pirated DVDs from her apartment on North Sheridan May 10 and charged her with unlawful use of unidentified sound or audio/visual recording. She now faces deportation.
Mokedi had a large store of television box-sets including “Lost,” “Criminal Minds,” and “House." She also had exercise videos, music and history box sets which she sold through the Internet.
Mokedi has been in Chicago since 2001 when she arrived as a student. She earned a degree in 2007, says the Sun-Times.
Authorities became suspicious about her activities when she began receiving high volumes of boxes full of DVDs from China. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office agents had started flagging and seizing many of the boxes, but there were so many a few slipped by.
The feds tipped off sheriff’s investigators and planned a sting operation. Sheriff’s police arranged a phony delivery to Modeki’s apartment where they found 25 boxes of illegal DVD’s. They also found three computers and a key to a storage facility that turned out to be empty.
Mokedi was arrested but she was able to pay 10 percent of her $10,000 bond and was released. That freedom was short-lived as immigration officials swooped in and nabbed her. Sheriff’s officials tell the Sun-Times she’ll likely be deported later this week.
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