A United States Postal worker has admitted in federal court that he stole 2,200 videogames addressed to Philadelphia-area GameFly customers.
Reginald Johnson, 34, was busted as the result of a surveillance mission that used test mailings after reports of missing GameFly mailings in the area reports Philly.com. When federal agents swooped in on Johnson in September of 2008, they found a total of 160 GameFly mailers in his SUV along with a slew of other game merchandise and GameStop receipts.
Johnson, a mail processing clerk at the USPS processing and distribution center, was apparently trading the stolen games in to GameStop for store credit.
GameFly is currently embroiled in battle with the USPS over what it considers preferential treatment for Netflix and Blockbuster.
Connect with us:
Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
October 16, 2009
| Posted in
| ||||
|  | |||
Shout box
Andrew Eisen: Huh, saw that in the paper last Friday (or possibly over the weekend). Sad to say but people missing that long usually turn up dead. Sure hope that isn't the case.02/09/2012 - 2:12am
|
Andrew Eisen: I don't believe so. As I hear it, it's just a week-long promotion.02/09/2012 - 2:10am
|
Uncharted NES: Nintendo Employee Reported "Missing"- http://m.kotaku.com/5883562/nintendo-employee-reported-missing02/09/2012 - 1:50am
|
Uncharted NES: @andrew Hopefully it's the permanent price, though I'm not planning to upgrade anytime soon.02/09/2012 - 1:44am
|
ddrfr33k: Wow, didn't realize it was that ambiguous. Internet terrorists sound like the next tinfoil hat conspiracy02/09/2012 - 1:09am
|
Andrew Eisen: Newegg has the same deal.02/09/2012 - 12:59am
|
Uncharted NES: http://m.kotaku.com/5883236/get-a-3ds-for-just-150-at-gamestop02/08/2012 - 11:00pm
|
Andrew Eisen: Not that it matters, I am just needling you after all.02/08/2012 - 10:34pm
|
Andrew Eisen: To be fair, I don't think that's what he was facepalming and if he was, that would still be three. MP's would make it four, but that happened after the fact. The rest of the posts are about us commenting on his repeated misuse, not the misuse itself.02/08/2012 - 10:34pm
|
DorthLous: To be fair, I did count ddrfr33k post as well, and, well, this dead horse would now be at 7 posts ^^02/08/2012 - 10:10pm
|
MaskedPixelante: BREAKING: Valve is the best production team this side of Studio B. See, I can do it too.02/08/2012 - 9:45pm
|
Andrew Eisen: Four to five? Really? That doesn’t sound right. Wait a moment, let me count... Nope, it was just one. And if you meant four to five between us, there's still only two.02/08/2012 - 9:03pm
|
DorthLous: And, you guys, always take about 4-5 posts to explain it in the shoutbox each time. It's like people complaining about reposts or "First!" posters. Just ignore the annoying part, guys.02/08/2012 - 8:51pm
|
RedMage: I do want to point out how sad it is that Andrew has had to point this out to you at least three times by my knowledge, Uncharted.02/08/2012 - 7:31pm
|
Andrew Eisen: If you have to ask, maybe you should consider breaking your annoying habit of prefixing nearly every story you link to with an all caps "breaking" or "urgent." Especially when it's only ever been appropriate twice.02/08/2012 - 5:37pm
|
Uncharted NES: For the report or the breaking?02/08/2012 - 5:10pm
|
ddrfr33k: @Uncharted: that's just facepalm-worthy. ISHYGDDT...02/08/2012 - 2:02pm
|
Uncharted NES: BREAKING: UK Report Blames The Internet For Terrorism, Says ISPs Should Take Down Content- http://tinyurl.com/86syhe202/08/2012 - 10:59am
|
lomdr: Then again, no site and publisher wants a repeat of KaneandLynchGate02/08/2012 - 6:39am
|
ZippyDSMlee: oh dear....... then again US rags give the most medicore crap 8s and 9s like crazy....02/07/2012 - 11:18pm
|
Comments
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
lol 2,200 I mean 2 games here and there but damn over 2000 I wonder how he ever managed to find the time to play any of them working for the post office, and another thing that catches me, why was he trading them in at gamestop for store credit? he already has the games but w/e he got caught and it looks like he will get whatever's coming for him.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Nice to see real thifes get light sentances and fake ones get more....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/what-is-cigital-disobedience/
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
As a game fly subscriber, i want them to really use this to lay the hammer on USPS and force them to treat there mail better. I've lost several games to USPS suckage, not to mention OTHER items that were lost due to them being idiots.
Yukimurais still here. "When he's at his best, he's little less then a man, and when he's at his worst, he's little more then a beast." W.S
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
2,200? How'd it get to be that many? Assuming he's managed to trade a good chunk of it in, with that many, he's probably have traded in the same game multiple times. On top of that, 2,200 is a *lot*of games, even if he somehow didn't have duplicates, isn't somebody going to find it weird that he's been showing up to trade in games often and/or trading huge batches of games at once? Shouldn't he have been cought before he could steal that much? Unless he was scouring all the GameStops in the area to avoid running into the same people. Would that even work?
And I'm not even taking into account all the stuff that could of happened on GameFly's side of things...
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
I think all your questions (which are all good questions) can be answered by GrimCW's observation (posted above) that GameStop probably knows that many of the games it accepts on trade-in are stolen. But I assume they do it anyway because it's profitable for them to stick their heads in the sand and act like they have no clue about what's happening.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
this IMHO is why they need to stop taking half beaten un boxed and outright probably stolen games at gamestop.
i can understand maybe PSP or DS games, but 360, PS3, and Wii games should nearly always be in the original case, maybe missing the booklets, but at least in the case.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
THIS is stealing, not piracy.
criadordejogos.wordpress.com
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Care to take a shot at explaining the difference? Most content providers insist there is none.
----
Papa Midnight
http://www.thesupersoldiers.com
----
Papa Midnight
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
I'm not supporting that statement, but I can give a shot at what those people would call the difference between pirating and stealing.
Pirating: Stealing with the intent of simply using the content (playing the game) for their own benefit (enjoyment) without compensating the maker.
"Stealing" (in this case): Stealing with the expectancy to do two-fold economic damage, without compensating the maker AND the retailer by selling it to turn a profit for himself. Basically, a Trafficker. Maker > stealer > chump who buys bootleg. The "Pirate" stops at stealer.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
I don't think the difference between theft and piracy has to do with whether you intend to sell the product, it has to do with the method you acquire it. If I remember correctly...
Piracy: Something is gotten via copying data or similar methods, and the original owner of the product doesn't actually lose any physical copies of the product. Thus, while the people who pirated the product have gotten ahold of the game or whatever without paying for it, the people who made it still have all the disks and data and stuff that they always did, and can still sell such things to legitimate customers.
Stealing: Something is gotten by actually stealing it physically. Thus, the original owner has a direct loss now that is more than just a "potential sale." Not only did the people who stole the product get it without paying, there is now less of the product available to sell to legitimate customers.
Generally, a lot of people view stealing as worse than piracy because not only are you taking something without paying for it, you are also depriving the creator of his property.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Of course and based on the difference you draw between "pirate" and "stealer," there's absolutely no difference from the maker's perspective. In the case of both, the maker is left uncompensated.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Although the same could be said for a second-hand sale....
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
. . . with the important distinction that the maker was compensated for the first-hand sale as opposed to begin completely without any compensation whatsoever.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
I agree with you 100%. I'm not arguing, but I was simply pointing out that, from the tech-savvy kid who thinks everything should be free, there is a distint overall economical difference between the pirating and stealing; although, the content maker does not see a difference as he is screwed regardless.
And DS, I'm surprised, I thought you would know better than calling a used game in the same vein as a pirated game.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Don't be surprised. DS has recently been exhibiting a marked propensity towards inability to distinguish between an apple and an orange.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
So Im guessing GameStop has to give those 2200 games back now... Possibly related to their CEO dumping millions in stock?
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
That would be reasonable, and it is very likely that GameFly and/or GameStop has a record of all the games that were stolen, so this shouldn't take too long.
"That's not ironic. That's justice."
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
These are the same types of dudes who will make up the buerocracy running health care soon too.
Just sayin'...
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Bullshit. What they gonna do, steal plasters?
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
They'll steal anything that ain't nailed to the floor.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
USPS maybe. But what's an office clerk gonna steal, forms? Steal free health-care from a system set up to provide free health-care?
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
How about stealing money out of people's bank accounts, which, under the last solid health care 'reform' bill I saw, would be available to those pencil pushers. How about selling identities and credit card information? There's a myriad of options for thievery in this new system, and when you consider the people that'll be running it, its not very reassuring.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
There is 'a myriad of options for thievery' inherient in any given system.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Yeah,but as long as its YOUR system, it doesnt matter.
At least thats how corporate America views things.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
People like you?
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
Jeez, dude. A game or two, here and there, you probably would have gotten away with. But 2200? What an idiot.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
He wasn't even making money on this! STORE CREDIT??? So, you're going to steal, with the possibility of jail, so you can...make enough store credit to buy a copy of Uncharted 2? Genius...
I think the Fable 2 / Gears 2 theft was better, as it was being done at the manufacturing plant.
Re: Busted: USPS Worker Steals over 2000 GameFly Games
The store credit does have a cash value. Which he could discount and then sell to someone else who does want to use it to buy a copy of Uncharted 2. He may actually come out further ahead that way than he would hawking his stolen merchandise on a street corner. And unless he's some sort of complusive video game collector, what's his need for store credit on over 2000 video games if not for the purpose of selling those store credits on a black market?