Suspected Illegal Videos Seized at Site of O.C. Protest

WESTMINSTER —  Police raided the Little Saigon store at the center of a monthlong protest by the Vietnamese community Friday and found an elaborate video piracy operation plus about 1,000 counterfeit videotapes, mostly of Asian soap operas, authorities said.

Before conducting the search, police were notified that the store had been burglarized and that the owner’s Vietnamese Communist flag and picture of Ho Chi Minh, the objects that prompted the protest, had been stolen.

In the back room and attic of the store, owned by Truong Van Tran, police found nearly 100 videocassette recorders allegedly used to make illicit copies of Vietnamese soap operas and movies, said Lt. Bill Lewis, spokesman for the Westminster Police Department.

Officers loaded boxes of videotapes into a truck Friday afternoon, Lewis said.

It is illegal to duplicate copyrighted movies or broadcasts, and making more than 100 copies is a felony, he said.

The police may go to court as early as next week to seek an arrest warrant for Tran, Lewis said.

Police have been protecting the merchant and his store since demonstrations began a month ago, including dispatching 200 officers in riot gear Feb. 20 to quell a protest by thousands of people outside the business.

Lewis said police will continue to protect Tran, even though they are gathering evidence that could lead to his arrest.

Tran could not be reached for comment Thursday, but his attorney, Ron Talmo, said: “It wouldn’t surprise me that the police would investigate Mr. Tran. They don’t like him. It would be a nice way out for the police.”

As for the theft of Tran’s flag and picture, police said they have no solid leads or suspects.

Jimmy Nguyen, a spokesman for the demonstrators, said none of the organizers knew about the theft or condone it.

Authorities began to suspect Tran of video piracy when they entered his store Feb. 20, the day Tran rehung the Vietnamese flag and picture of Ho after winning a court battle for the right to display them.

Lewis said officers noticed a string of VCRs hooked up to one unit, and dozens of videos with crude labels--both telltale signs of video piracy.