ROANOKE RAPIDS — A Valley man gets his punishment in software copyright infringement case.

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After pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, William Parrott, 39, of Roanoke Rapids, has been sentenced to two years probation and fined $500 in federal court.

Parrott was among five people originally indicted in the case by a federal grand jury in New Haven, Conn.

In March, he entered a guilty plea to a single count. He could have faced five years in a federal prison and a $25,000 fine. However in reviewing the case, Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven sentenced him to probation and $500 fine for his role in the software piracy scheme.

According to documents filed with the federal and statements made in court, Parrott and others participated in the “warez scene,” which is an underground online community consisting of individuals and organized groups who use the Internet to engage in the large-scale, illegal distribution of copyrighted software. 

In the warez scene, certain participants (known as “suppliers”) are able to obtain access to copyrighted software, video games, DVD movies and MP3 music files, often before those titles are even available to the general public. Other participants, known as “crackers,” then use their technical skills to circumvent or “crack” the digital copyright protections.  Others, known as “couriers,” distribute the pirated software to various file storage sites (“FTP sites”) on the Internet for others to access, reproduce and further distribute.

Parrott was known as “niterangr,” according to a press statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The prosecutors said in approximately 2001, Parrott, with the assistance of a co-conspirator, began operating a warez server known as “Nite Ranger Hideout.”  From approximately November 2002 through April 2003, they uploaded about 1,477 files and downloaded nearly 13,109 files from the Night Ranger's Hideout site, which was based in Emporia, Va.