August 9, 2006 Tampa, Florida – LAWFUEL – Legal News Network – United States Attorney Paul I. Perez today announced Timothy Scott Simpson, a 44 year old resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud involving a nation-wide scheme to defraud providers of cable television channels.
The maximum penalty Simpson faces is five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and a special assessment of $100. Simpson pleaded guilty to devising a mail fraud scheme in which he advertised and sold “non-addressable” or “bulletproof” cable television descramblers over an internet website called “MyBoxx.com.”
The descramblers enabled persons who subscribed to receive “basic” cable television channels to receive “premium” channels, such as HBO and Showtime, without payment of the additional fee the cable television providers usually charge for premium channels. In the written plea agreement filed with the Court, Simpson admitted to selling almost 8,000 cable descramblers from August 2000 to March 2003, and receiving $1,196,925 from those sales.
As part of the plea agreement, Simpson has agreed to forfeit to the government a house located in Villa Park Estate in St. Petersburg valued at approximately $800,000, and a 2002 Porsche 911 convertible which were purchased with proceeds from the sales, as well as the contents of several bank accounts. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Clearwater Office and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Dennis I. Moore.
