Young Woman Faces Felony Charges For Recording ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’
Damn … how’s this for a buzz kill. A 22 year old woman is facing felony charges that could land her in prison for 3 years after she got caught videotaping The Twilight Saga: New Moon inside a movie theater during a friend’s birthday party. The woman, Samantha Tumpach, was snapping photos of her friends inside a Chicago-area theater during a showing of New Moon and thought it would be fun to record some of the movie as well. Theater employees caught her in the act, confiscated her camera and discovered she had recorded 3-4 minutes of the film. They decided to press charges and Ms. Tumpach was arrested and spent 2 nights in jail … now she awaits further prosecution which could result in a longer incarceration stint in federal prison!
Taping three minutes of “Twilight: New Moon” during a visit to a Rosemont movie theater landed Samantha Tumpach in a jail cell for two nights. Now, the 22-year-old Chicago woman faces up to three years in prison after being charged with a rarely invoked felony designed to prevent movie patrons from recording hot new movies and selling bootleg copies. But Tumpach insisted Wednesday that’s not what she was doing — she was actually taping parts of her sister’s surprise birthday party celebrated at the Muvico Theater in Rosemont. While she acknowledged there are short bits of the movie on her digital camera, there are other images that have nothing to do with the new film — including she and a few other family members singing “Happy Birthday” to her 29-year-old sister at the theater. “It was a big thing over nothing,” Tumpach said of her Saturday afternoon arrest. “We were just messing around. Everyone is so surprised it got this far.” She was nabbed when a worker saw her shooting video during the movie, Rosemont police said. Managers contacted police, who examined the small digital camera, which also records video segments, Cmdr. Frank Siciliano said. Officers found that Tumpach had taped “two very short segments” of the movie — no more than four minutes total, he said. Tumpach was arrested after theater managers insisted on pressing charges, he said. She was charged with criminal use of a motion picture exhibition. She remained jailed for two nights in Rosemont’s police station until being taken to bond court on Monday, where a Cook County judge ordered her released on a personal recognizance bond that didn’t require her to post any cash. Rosemont police, though, seemed to sympathize with her situation, she said. “They were so nice to me,” she said. Tumpach insisted she recorded no more than three minutes while in the theater — and said not all of the video she shot was of the movie. There’s footage of she and her relatives singing to her sister, she said. “We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her in the theater,” Tumpach said … As ads and previews ran on the big screen, she fiddled with the camera — which she got in July and is still learning how to work — and was surprised to see it took clear videos of the screen. The footage she shot also includes the pre-film commercials, as well as her talking about the camera and the movie. “You can hear me talking the whole time,” Tumpach said. She plans to fight in court the felony filed against her because she said she did nothing wrong — and certainly didn’t try to secretly tape the movie. “It was never my intention to record the movie,” she said.
I don’t personally think she was trying to record the movie either but she is an idiot for playing with her camera inside the theater at all. While I feel the theater is taking things a bit too far by pushing forward with these charges, I can understand their desire to punish would-be pirates. I sincerely doubt that this young woman will be sent to prison for this infraction but let this be lesson to all … if you try to get away with something as stupid as recording a movie inside a theater, you run the risk of getting nailed — badly. Forwarned is forearmed.
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Tags: 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'
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December 6th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I actually grew up in Rosemont, Illinois. The police and the businesses there take EVERYTHING so so seriously. Every single time a person gets pulled over for a simple traffic violation two cops show up as “back up.” The village installed a gate and security check point at the residential area to protect the Mayor (who is now dead) from “death threats.” We actually moved out of Rosemont because the cops would ticket your car if you parked on a side street even if it didn’t have a “no parking” sign. BUT THAT’S ROSEMONT FOR YA!
December 6th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
If she’s guilty and this is more than an “innocent mistake,” she has to pay the price in terms of jail or fines. Piracy is destroying the entertainment industry – and not just stock prices but more importantly, the livelihood of tens of thousands of hard-working people who are not rich or famous but have dedicated their lives to working in film, television, music, videos, videogames. For all of you who dream of working in these creative busineses and may even be going to school to study filmmaking, please adopt a zero tolerance policy when it comes to piracy. This may seem boring and “old fashioned” but for a new generation to have a chance to make a living creatively – and for the “next” TWILIGHT to even have a chance – piracy must be seen for what it is. A crime.
December 6th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
@Piracy = Dream Killer. What do you mean for the next Twilight to even have a chance? These movies make so much money, a couple cam recorded torrents are not going to destroy them.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
wow… i know during the midnight showing they came in and made a speech about the consequences of recording in the theatre and what not… so i’m not suprised they are making an example of her
December 6th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I think it’s important for the movie theater though you know. I mean if someone found out that they weren’t taking action against someone filming in the theater then they might think that they wouldn’t do anything if someone else was caught and then someone might go in with different intentions than this girl. Regardless of her intentions it is a well known fact that it’s illegal to film a movie in the theater and there have to be consequences for those actions.
December 6th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
a couple of cam recorded movies hitting the web would undoubtedly have thousands if not hundreds of thousands of hits all over the internet. People think that oh I am only downloading this movie or this song illegally that it wont hurt, they wont notice, but they wouldnt be the only one doing so, and so a snowflake turns to a snow ball and so on and so forth, and its not the big blockbuster movies or albums that get affected, its the smaller, independent films that suffer the most. So if this Samantha girl was filming the movie, then I say lay down the full extent of the law on her, just like they would someone making bootleg copies and selling them blackmarket style. If it isnt stopped at a grass roots level at a simple cinema with a simple girl, eventually movies wont be like they used to, as there will be no money to be made from it… whatever the third book is in the twilight saga wouldnt be affected, but by “next” meaning an upcoming twilight style movie…Piracy = Dream killer said it spot on!
December 6th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I disagree that piracy is a dream killer. Big, HUGE corporations that make MILLIONS of dollars is a dream killer. Sending a poor 22 year old girl to jail for three years because she video taped New Moon is more than a dream killer. We put our concerns in all the wrong places. Let us worry about poverty, aids, war, and how to stop global warming…let us not worry about someone recording a movie. One, if someone actually liked the movie, they will go buy the movie. A video taped version from a theater usually sucks compared to the actual movie. Two, the entertainment industry is making a ton of money. If they can expel millions of dollars to make movies, it will not hurt to have people watch the movie until it is released on DVD. Three, are we really saying people should waste their tax dollars for three years to house a woman in prison for video taping Twilight? If we are going to put people in prison we should have a much better reason for it. Do you honestly think that her crime is worth losing three years of her life for…honestly? If you do, I hope the next three years of your life suck.
December 6th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
What’s really depressing about this is that she spent more time in jail than Chris Brown.
December 6th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Amy that is really depressing. That statement kind of made you my hero.
December 6th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
She’s already spent more time in jail than most DUI/DWI convictions…something is seriously wrong with the justice system. While she did do something stupid, she is obviously not a pirate.
December 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Amy your comment just reminded me how stupid and twisted the justice system is.
December 6th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
poor girl. i don’t think piracy hurts the pockets of actors. its the production company who cares so much about the money.
December 6th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
The theater’s actions are morally reprehensible. Simply put, there has to be some equivalency of crime and punishment to be just. This, at best, makes a joke out of the justice system.
December 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Wow that seems a bit harsh.
December 6th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
seriously my first thought was who the eff cares. it’s gonna end up on the internet anyways. blah blah blah taking away from the earned money of the actors but HELLO 200andwhate ver million seems like enough to me.
December 6th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I agree that piracy is bad and stuff…but really, 3 years in jail? We PAY for these people to be put in jail…about $35,000 per year. The girl honestly sounds like it was an accident. If it wasn’t, give her a huge fine to pay. That’ll teach her to not do it again. I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the point of paying my hard earned money to house a NON-violent criminal in jail when they can get fines which are proved to work better than imprisonment in Europe. And I didn’t look all this stuff up on the internet. I just took a Criminology class so this stuff heats me up.
December 6th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
confiscate the camera, delete it, the end. more time in jail than chris brown truly is stupid.
if she didn’t have the opportunity to take it out of the theater or show anyone, let alone make $ from it, what can they get her for anyway?
December 6th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
most reprehensible: The theater employee who caught her and turned her in. Talk about being a narc
December 6th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Seriously, putting her in jail for 3 years for less than 4 minutes of the movie is absolutely absurd. It’s a huge waste of money and space that should be reserved for real criminals.
December 7th, 2009 at 5:44 am
‘irregardless’ of whether or not she meant to pirate the movie, it sounds like she and her friends were being obnoxious, i’m sure the other movie goers were glad when she got booted!
December 7th, 2009 at 9:49 am
she sounds like a moron.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:27 am
If she was actually sitting there just recording the movie and intended to post it or sell it, than the theater’s actions are justified. If she was just joking around her friends and didn’t think about what she was doing, then she is just stupid and the theater should have just taken the tape. This is why going after people who have pirated music haven’t gone well. Giving some 19 yr old kid a $100,000 fine is just going to make them look mean and greedy. Have to find another way to stop it.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I work at a movie theatre in Ontario, Canada. I’ll tell you something… the managers and any Cineplex (the company that owns 80% of all movie theatres in Canada) are soo effing anal about digital cameras too.
According to my fellow employees we can get up to $5,000 for turning someone in who might have any pictures or video footage. So I guarantee that worker was like “Hello money!!!!” He didn’t really give poop about the girl.. just the moola.
What I don’t get is.. why press charges on a girl who took 3 minutes of video and not a website who has the full DVD quality movie… people are just idiots!
December 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Hey man, if something like this being in the news gets those damn kids to turn their phones/cameras off during a movie, I’m all for throwing her in the slammer.