Shea O'Brien Foley, a former employee of Lucasfilm who has denied leaking a copy of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" to an Internet reviewer has been charged with 13 felony counts in connection with the theft of an estimated $450,000 worth of materials related to the blockbuster film.
The theft of sound effects, storyboard images, the film score and hundreds of digital images and video files occurred between September 2000 and April 2002, when Shea O'Brien Foley was employed as a production assistant at the Lucas Valley filmmaking company.
Foley, 30, moved back to his native Southern California earlier this year to work at NBC. He was arrested at his Burbank workplace at 10:10 a.m. yesterday by officers with the Department of Motor Vehicles' computer forensics and investigations office.
He was booked into Los Angeles County Jail and is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail on the warrant, which charges him with four counts of unlawful access to a computer system and nine counts of grand theft.
The case results from an internal company investigation launched after a review of the fifth installment of the "Star Wars" series appeared on the Internet Web site aint-it-cool-news.com on March 17, two months before its theatrical release on May 16.
Based on references in the review, Lucasfilm officials concluded the writer, Harry Knowles, had seen an early version of the film. Knowles did not return messages left yesterday.
It became apparent that the source of the "bootleg copy" and other information about the film was coming from someone working at Skywalker Ranch, the multi-unit production complex owned by George Lucas, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by Marin Deputy District Attorney Paul Haakenson.
Foley quickly became a suspect because of information posted on "Star Wars"-related chat rooms under the name "Shay." At one such site, "Shay" placed a picture of Foley's winning costume - of character Boba Fett - from a Lucasfilm costume contest held around Halloween 2001, the court document said.
Legal paperwork in the case, filed Monday, has since been sealed by court order.
If convicted as charged, Foley would face a maximum prison sentence of seven years and four months, Haakenson said.
The prosecutor would not say whether any criminal charges are pending against Knowles.
The amount of actual loss to Lucasfilm could be in the millions of dollars, according to the court document.
Among the stolen items that were recovered, according to the affidavit:
? Nineteen CD-ROM discs containing the entire restricted library of sound effects created during the past 25 years for use in the "Star Wars" films, with an estimated "collectible value" of $95,000.
? More than 2,000 high-quality digital images from "Episode II," valued at $125,000.
? Hundreds of video files of "Episode II," from concept shots to final clips, valued at $100,000.
? About 113 storyboard images - or sketches outlining scenes from the film - with handwritten notes by Lucas, valued at more than $100,000.
Foley had worked at Lucasfilm as a production assistant for Todd Busch, the first assistant director for the company, who edited "Episode II."
"(Foley) maintained databases, knew production schedules and many intimate details concerning the film itself," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
On April 2, Lucasfilm officials downloaded the hard drive of Foley's Apple G4 laptop computer while he was away from his work area. The downloading was done at the direction of Patrick Webb, a security consultant and private investigator working for Lucasfilm, under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement signed by Foley, the court document said.
Webb and other Lucasfilm officials subsequently found files that Foley was not authorized to have, the affidavit said.
Foley was called in to see Webb and other company officials the next day.
He allowed them to access his laptop; however, most of the files at issue were no longer found on the computer.
According to the affidavit, Foley initially declined taking anything, but then acknowledged downloading some "clips" and the film soundtrack, which he said he no longer had.
When threatened with dismissal, Foley admitted that he had taken photo images, storyboards and a script for "Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace," but "nothing big," according to the court document. He specifically denied having a copy of "Episode II."
Foley said he was an "avid fan" and had taken the items for his "souvenir collection" at his Petaluma home, according to the court document.
Foley agreed to allow Webb to look through the items at his home and when they arrived at his Lakeville Circle townhouse the investigator saw "tons of 'Star Wars' items," Webb said in the affidavit. Foley turned over numerous items, including 25 CDs with images of the film, three videotapes of "Episode I" voice-over tests, 115 storyboard image strips and a hard disk drive with downloaded photo images.
On April 4, Rick McCallum, executive producer of "Episode II," viewed the CDs Webb received from Foley and determined they contained a large portion of the film.
"McCallum verified that (Foley) was not allowed to possess these, and the loss of control of these items represented a major loss to Lucasfilm," the court document said.
Foley met with Lucasfilm officials later in the day. He expressed no remorse, according to the affidavit, and was fired.
http://www.marinij.com/news/stories/index2002453.html
___________________________________________________
If your going to steal, don't use a pic of yourself as an avatar and brag about it on a bulletin board.
Peter
The theft of sound effects, storyboard images, the film score and hundreds of digital images and video files occurred between September 2000 and April 2002, when Shea O'Brien Foley was employed as a production assistant at the Lucas Valley filmmaking company.
Foley, 30, moved back to his native Southern California earlier this year to work at NBC. He was arrested at his Burbank workplace at 10:10 a.m. yesterday by officers with the Department of Motor Vehicles' computer forensics and investigations office.
He was booked into Los Angeles County Jail and is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail on the warrant, which charges him with four counts of unlawful access to a computer system and nine counts of grand theft.
The case results from an internal company investigation launched after a review of the fifth installment of the "Star Wars" series appeared on the Internet Web site aint-it-cool-news.com on March 17, two months before its theatrical release on May 16.
Based on references in the review, Lucasfilm officials concluded the writer, Harry Knowles, had seen an early version of the film. Knowles did not return messages left yesterday.
It became apparent that the source of the "bootleg copy" and other information about the film was coming from someone working at Skywalker Ranch, the multi-unit production complex owned by George Lucas, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by Marin Deputy District Attorney Paul Haakenson.
Foley quickly became a suspect because of information posted on "Star Wars"-related chat rooms under the name "Shay." At one such site, "Shay" placed a picture of Foley's winning costume - of character Boba Fett - from a Lucasfilm costume contest held around Halloween 2001, the court document said.
Legal paperwork in the case, filed Monday, has since been sealed by court order.
If convicted as charged, Foley would face a maximum prison sentence of seven years and four months, Haakenson said.
The prosecutor would not say whether any criminal charges are pending against Knowles.
The amount of actual loss to Lucasfilm could be in the millions of dollars, according to the court document.
Among the stolen items that were recovered, according to the affidavit:
? Nineteen CD-ROM discs containing the entire restricted library of sound effects created during the past 25 years for use in the "Star Wars" films, with an estimated "collectible value" of $95,000.
? More than 2,000 high-quality digital images from "Episode II," valued at $125,000.
? Hundreds of video files of "Episode II," from concept shots to final clips, valued at $100,000.
? About 113 storyboard images - or sketches outlining scenes from the film - with handwritten notes by Lucas, valued at more than $100,000.
Foley had worked at Lucasfilm as a production assistant for Todd Busch, the first assistant director for the company, who edited "Episode II."
"(Foley) maintained databases, knew production schedules and many intimate details concerning the film itself," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
On April 2, Lucasfilm officials downloaded the hard drive of Foley's Apple G4 laptop computer while he was away from his work area. The downloading was done at the direction of Patrick Webb, a security consultant and private investigator working for Lucasfilm, under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement signed by Foley, the court document said.
Webb and other Lucasfilm officials subsequently found files that Foley was not authorized to have, the affidavit said.
Foley was called in to see Webb and other company officials the next day.
He allowed them to access his laptop; however, most of the files at issue were no longer found on the computer.
According to the affidavit, Foley initially declined taking anything, but then acknowledged downloading some "clips" and the film soundtrack, which he said he no longer had.
When threatened with dismissal, Foley admitted that he had taken photo images, storyboards and a script for "Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace," but "nothing big," according to the court document. He specifically denied having a copy of "Episode II."
Foley said he was an "avid fan" and had taken the items for his "souvenir collection" at his Petaluma home, according to the court document.
Foley agreed to allow Webb to look through the items at his home and when they arrived at his Lakeville Circle townhouse the investigator saw "tons of 'Star Wars' items," Webb said in the affidavit. Foley turned over numerous items, including 25 CDs with images of the film, three videotapes of "Episode I" voice-over tests, 115 storyboard image strips and a hard disk drive with downloaded photo images.
On April 4, Rick McCallum, executive producer of "Episode II," viewed the CDs Webb received from Foley and determined they contained a large portion of the film.
"McCallum verified that (Foley) was not allowed to possess these, and the loss of control of these items represented a major loss to Lucasfilm," the court document said.
Foley met with Lucasfilm officials later in the day. He expressed no remorse, according to the affidavit, and was fired.
http://www.marinij.com/news/stories/index2002453.html
___________________________________________________
If your going to steal, don't use a pic of yourself as an avatar and brag about it on a bulletin board.
Peter
