A.V. MAN ARRESTED IN PIRACY CASE.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - An anonymous tip led to the arrest of a Lancaster man and the seizure of nearly 2,000 pirated DVDs and CDs he was selling out of the back of his minivan, officials said.

Cary Calvin, who was on probation for DVD piracy, was selling movies including the recently opened ``Honey,'' ``Cat in the Hat'' and ``Elf,'' as well as homemade copies of films already out on commercial DVDs, officials said.

``This was a time-consuming little enterprise,'' said Detective Chris Keeling who worked with the Target Oriented Policing/Special Investigative Detail to apprehend Calvin. ``Thousands of hours have been put into doing this. This isn't something that you can do overnight.''

Calvin was selling the DVDs at $5 each from the back of his Ford Windstar, which was equipped with a portable DVD player and CD player plugged into the cigarette lighter so customers could preview the illegal discs, officials said.

The newly released movies were copied using a small digital camera equipped with a wire-legged tripod, deputies said. Deputies think it was placed on a theater seat and focused on the screen. Occasionally, the DVDs show a moviegoer's head passing back and forth in front of the screen.

Calvin, 41, was serving a three-year probation term for pirating DVDs from a 2001 arrest and 2002 conviction and was also arrested in 2003 on unrelated charges. He served a year in state prison in the 1980s for drug possession.

Deputies said Calvin told them he was selling pirated movies and music to support his family.

Deputies received information Friday about Calvin through the Lancaster sheriff's station's anonymous tip line (661) 948-COPS. The caller provided a license plate number as well as a description of the van and the seller and parking lots where he was peddling the pirated movies.

``We don't know if the call came from a former customer, a business owner or what,'' said Keeling. ``The tip line is just an answering machine that callers can leave whatever information they want on it.''

On Monday, deputies went to Avenue J and Division Street, spotted the van and arrested Calvin.

Inside the van deputies said they found boxes of CDs and DVDs.

The music CDs were in jewel cases with the titles and song tracks printed on ordinary paper. The DVD packages were more elaborate, with movie posters or rental cover art reprinted and placed inside DVD cases.

Calvin was being held at the Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles without bail on suspicion of possession of pirated material and possession of an ounce and a half of marijuana.

Officials said the investigation is continuing. They are looking into whether Calvin may have had assistance in the production of the movies and CDs. At his home they found no equipment for reproducing large numbers of DVDs, officials said.

This is the second case involving pirated movies in the Antelope Valley. In June a patrol deputy spotted a couple smoking marijuana in a car parked late at night on a rural street outside Palmdale.

Inside the car were two duffel bags containing 118 DVDs of movies that weren't yet out on DVD commercially.