Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
October 16, 2009
A United States Postal worker has admitted in federal court that he stole 2,200 videogames addressed to Philadelphia-area GameFly customers.
Reginald Johnson, 34, was busted as the result of a surveillance mission that used test mailings after reports of missing GameFly mailings in the area reports Philly.com. When federal agents swooped in on Johnson in September of 2008, they found a total of 160 GameFly mailers in his SUV along with a slew of other game merchandise and GameStop receipts.
Johnson, a mail processing clerk at the USPS processing and distribution center, was apparently trading the stolen games in to GameStop for store credit.
GameFly is currently embroiled in battle with the USPS over what it considers preferential treatment for Netflix and Blockbuster.
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Posted 02/09/10 at 07:00am
Austin_Lewis: That Alabama school shooting is supposedly gang related, according to the shooter's lawyer.
Austin_Lewis: That Alabama school shooting is supposedly gang related, according to the shooter's lawyer.
Posted 02/08/10 at 10:22pm
JDKJ: Landrieu. That's a good Cajun name. I ga-run-tee.
JDKJ: Landrieu. That's a good Cajun name. I ga-run-tee.
Posted 02/08/10 at 09:36pm
BearDogg-X: New Orleans elected Sen. Mary Landrieu's brother, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu as mayor Saturday night.
BearDogg-X: New Orleans elected Sen. Mary Landrieu's brother, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu as mayor Saturday night.
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:22pm
Valdearg: J/K, btw, with that last comment. Just in case anyone was confused.
Valdearg: J/K, btw, with that last comment. Just in case anyone was confused.
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:21pm
Valdearg: This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin telling the Teaparty Convention to pray for Divine intervention to stop the Progressive tide. It seems she succeeded in recruiting the big man to offer some help. >.<
Valdearg: This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin telling the Teaparty Convention to pray for Divine intervention to stop the Progressive tide. It seems she succeeded in recruiting the big man to offer some help. >.<
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:20pm
Valdearg: @A_L: I'm hearing that, as well.. It seems the dems aren't just losing seats via elections... :(
Valdearg: @A_L: I'm hearing that, as well.. It seems the dems aren't just losing seats via elections... :(
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:04pm
DarkSaber: Did he design Big Murtha Truckers 1 & 2?
DarkSaber: Did he design Big Murtha Truckers 1 & 2?
Posted 02/08/10 at 01:50pm
Austin_Lewis: John Murtha reportedly deceased.
Austin_Lewis: John Murtha reportedly deceased.
Posted 02/08/10 at 01:04pm
Shadow D. Darkman: DarkSaber: (EDIT) IDC really, it's just good to see some new stuff here.
Shadow D. Darkman: DarkSaber: (EDIT) IDC really, it's just good to see some new stuff here.
Posted 02/08/10 at 01:02pm
DarkSaber: @Shadow If the on-going spat in China over WoW counts as "new" at least. Does anyone here REALLY give a shit about the state of chinas game industry anyway?
DarkSaber: @Shadow If the on-going spat in China over WoW counts as "new" at least. Does anyone here REALLY give a shit about the state of chinas game industry anyway?
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:59pm
gellymatos: Oh, we pro-life advocates have our nutjuobs to (ie, guys who shoot up abortion clincs). We can have worse ones than yours.
gellymatos: Oh, we pro-life advocates have our nutjuobs to (ie, guys who shoot up abortion clincs). We can have worse ones than yours.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:58pm
Shadow D. Darkman: Finally, new articles!
Shadow D. Darkman: Finally, new articles!
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:57pm
Valdearg: @Gelly: As much as I hate to admit it, it's because so many of us on the Left are utterly predictable with our outrage, LOL.
Valdearg: @Gelly: As much as I hate to admit it, it's because so many of us on the Left are utterly predictable with our outrage, LOL.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:57pm
gellymatos: Oh, and the boycotting didn't get that much attention to be a real blow to pro-choice advocates either.
gellymatos: Oh, and the boycotting didn't get that much attention to be a real blow to pro-choice advocates either.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:52pm
gellymatos: ...predict such a bad move by what is not considered a stupid group.
gellymatos: ...predict such a bad move by what is not considered a stupid group.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:50pm
gellymatos: How can you script someone boycotting the super bowl over such a trivial ad. An ad they must have seen before hand. You can't...
gellymatos: How can you script someone boycotting the super bowl over such a trivial ad. An ad they must have seen before hand. You can't...
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:47pm
Valdearg: There are plenty of bright people in Marketing, and this struck me as too perfect, and too scripted to have been just a byproduct of some lucky stroke of luck on FotF's part.
Valdearg: There are plenty of bright people in Marketing, and this struck me as too perfect, and too scripted to have been just a byproduct of some lucky stroke of luck on FotF's part.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:46pm
Valdearg: You are so quick to disqualify the possibility that it was planned. I'm not saying that it necessarily WAS as I describe it, but I certainly believe it a very real possibility.
Valdearg: You are so quick to disqualify the possibility that it was planned. I'm not saying that it necessarily WAS as I describe it, but I certainly believe it a very real possibility.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:42pm
gellymatos: ...that. However, that doesn't strike me as something predictable. Was it a bonus? Yes. Was it planned to be so? No.
gellymatos: ...that. However, that doesn't strike me as something predictable. Was it a bonus? Yes. Was it planned to be so? No.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:41pm
DarkSaber: Ah right here we go again, someone disagrees with Val therefore they don't know what they are talking about.
DarkSaber: Ah right here we go again, someone disagrees with Val therefore they don't know what they are talking about.
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Comments
He wasn't even making money on this! STORE CREDIT??? So, you're going to steal, with the possibility of jail, so you can...make enough store credit to buy a copy of Uncharted 2? Genius...
I think the Fable 2 / Gears 2 theft was better, as it was being done at the manufacturing plant.
The store credit does have a cash value. Which he could discount and then sell to someone else who does want to use it to buy a copy of Uncharted 2. He may actually come out further ahead that way than he would hawking his stolen merchandise on a street corner. And unless he's some sort of complusive video game collector, what's his need for store credit on over 2000 video games if not for the purpose of selling those store credits on a black market?
Jeez, dude. A game or two, here and there, you probably would have gotten away with. But 2200? What an idiot.
These are the same types of dudes who will make up the buerocracy running health care soon too.
Just sayin'...
Bullshit. What they gonna do, steal plasters?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
They'll steal anything that ain't nailed to the floor.
USPS maybe. But what's an office clerk gonna steal, forms? Steal free health-care from a system set up to provide free health-care?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
How about stealing money out of people's bank accounts, which, under the last solid health care 'reform' bill I saw, would be available to those pencil pushers. How about selling identities and credit card information? There's a myriad of options for thievery in this new system, and when you consider the people that'll be running it, its not very reassuring.
People like you?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
There is 'a myriad of options for thievery' inherient in any given system.
Yeah,but as long as its YOUR system, it doesnt matter.
At least thats how corporate America views things.
So Im guessing GameStop has to give those 2200 games back now... Possibly related to their CEO dumping millions in stock?
That would be reasonable, and it is very likely that GameFly and/or GameStop has a record of all the games that were stolen, so this shouldn't take too long.
"That's not ironic. That's justice."
THIS is stealing, not piracy.
criadordejogos.wordpress.com
Care to take a shot at explaining the difference? Most content providers insist there is none.
----
Papa Midnight
http://www.thesupersoldiers.com
I'm not supporting that statement, but I can give a shot at what those people would call the difference between pirating and stealing.
Pirating: Stealing with the intent of simply using the content (playing the game) for their own benefit (enjoyment) without compensating the maker.
"Stealing" (in this case): Stealing with the expectancy to do two-fold economic damage, without compensating the maker AND the retailer by selling it to turn a profit for himself. Basically, a Trafficker. Maker > stealer > chump who buys bootleg. The "Pirate" stops at stealer.
Of course and based on the difference you draw between "pirate" and "stealer," there's absolutely no difference from the maker's perspective. In the case of both, the maker is left uncompensated.
Although the same could be said for a second-hand sale....
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
. . . with the important distinction that the maker was compensated for the first-hand sale as opposed to begin completely without any compensation whatsoever.
I agree with you 100%. I'm not arguing, but I was simply pointing out that, from the tech-savvy kid who thinks everything should be free, there is a distint overall economical difference between the pirating and stealing; although, the content maker does not see a difference as he is screwed regardless.
And DS, I'm surprised, I thought you would know better than calling a used game in the same vein as a pirated game.
Don't be surprised. DS has recently been exhibiting a marked propensity towards inability to distinguish between an apple and an orange.
I don't think the difference between theft and piracy has to do with whether you intend to sell the product, it has to do with the method you acquire it. If I remember correctly...
Piracy: Something is gotten via copying data or similar methods, and the original owner of the product doesn't actually lose any physical copies of the product. Thus, while the people who pirated the product have gotten ahold of the game or whatever without paying for it, the people who made it still have all the disks and data and stuff that they always did, and can still sell such things to legitimate customers.
Stealing: Something is gotten by actually stealing it physically. Thus, the original owner has a direct loss now that is more than just a "potential sale." Not only did the people who stole the product get it without paying, there is now less of the product available to sell to legitimate customers.
Generally, a lot of people view stealing as worse than piracy because not only are you taking something without paying for it, you are also depriving the creator of his property.
this IMHO is why they need to stop taking half beaten un boxed and outright probably stolen games at gamestop.
i can understand maybe PSP or DS games, but 360, PS3, and Wii games should nearly always be in the original case, maybe missing the booklets, but at least in the case.
2,200? How'd it get to be that many? Assuming he's managed to trade a good chunk of it in, with that many, he's probably have traded in the same game multiple times. On top of that, 2,200 is a *lot*of games, even if he somehow didn't have duplicates, isn't somebody going to find it weird that he's been showing up to trade in games often and/or trading huge batches of games at once? Shouldn't he have been cought before he could steal that much? Unless he was scouring all the GameStops in the area to avoid running into the same people. Would that even work?
And I'm not even taking into account all the stuff that could of happened on GameFly's side of things...
I think all your questions (which are all good questions) can be answered by GrimCW's observation (posted above) that GameStop probably knows that many of the games it accepts on trade-in are stolen. But I assume they do it anyway because it's profitable for them to stick their heads in the sand and act like they have no clue about what's happening.
As a game fly subscriber, i want them to really use this to lay the hammer on USPS and force them to treat there mail better. I've lost several games to USPS suckage, not to mention OTHER items that were lost due to them being idiots.
Yukimurais still here. "When he's at his best, he's little less then a man, and when he's at his worst, he's little more then a beast." W.S
Nice to see real thifes get light sentances and fake ones get more....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
lol 2,200 I mean 2 games here and there but damn over 2000 I wonder how he ever managed to find the time to play any of them working for the post office, and another thing that catches me, why was he trading them in at gamestop for store credit? he already has the games but w/e he got caught and it looks like he will get whatever's coming for him.