Early in 2011, Edge Video was visited by two Brewer Police Department representatives. They were investigating some... crime (they never specified what). They wanted to look at our records of items traded in or sold to us. In case you don't know, all resale and pawn shops are required to keep records of items they buy from the public and make that information available to law enforcement. We had a book that basically contained the trade information printed from the computers as receipts (it included all the necessary transaction details).
The two officers looked through the book, then turned to me and said, "What we're looking for isn't here."
I replied, "I'm sorry, what are you looking for?"
One of them said, "What's on the computers?"
I said, "The computers are mostly used for DVD rental accounts and customer information."
One of them said, "We want to look at them."
I said, "I don't think I can let you without a warrant. Not because we're hiding anything, but because of the Video Privacy Protection Act."
They responded, "Well, we'll get a warrant and take all your computers."
I said, "I'm not trying to be difficult, but I have to protect my customers' privacy and avoid being sued myself. I think you need a warrant for a specific account, not a 'blanket warrant.' We have a lot of information on there. Why don't we just find out the actual law and go by the book? You guys are law enforcement, isn't that what you want?"
They said, "We're just going to come back and take all your computers."
I said, "Okay."
And they left. I wasn't at the store when they "came back," so the rest of the story is from my perspective as a witness. I've omitted some names. I apologize for the change in format; I wrote this up from notes I made right after it happened in 2011. At the end, I've added an update on the impact it had on our businesses and my thoughts on the whole matter.
May 24, 2011 (a Tuesday)
My partner in both business and life, Heidi Pugliese, called me around 11 a.m. and told me the Brewer Police Department was at the Brewer store with a search warrant.
I said, "Okay."
About an hour later, there was a knock at the door. I went to answer it and heard someone say, "Hello?"
By the time I reached the porch, Captain Moffitt was coming in.
ME: "Yes?"
Moffitt: "I'm Captain Moffitt of the Brewer PD, and I'm looking for stolen movies."
ME: "Okay."
Moffitt: "Who are you?"
I told him my name.
Moffitt: "We were just at your store looking for stolen movies. We know they're here. Can we get them?"
ME: "I don't know anything about stolen movies."
Moffitt: "It was a sting operation, okay?" (He seemed very angry.) "Let's just have them. We know they're here."
ME: "Okay, where's your warrant?"
Moffitt: "Well, we can get a warrant, but we could also just get the movies and make this easy..."
ME: "Okay, I'll just call my lawyer."
I started to go get my cell phone.
Moffitt: "No, I can't let you go back in there..."
ME: "Why?"
Moffitt: "You might destroy evidence or have a weapon. You're acting kind of sketchy with me right now."
I didn't think I was acting "sketchy," not compared to Captain Moffitt anyway.
ME: "Okay, can we go outside?"
Moffitt: "Yes, we can."
We went outside, and another officer approached from the driveway.
Moffitt: "We need to secure the house."
ME: "Why?"
Moffitt: "To make sure it's safe and that there's no one else in the house."
ME: "Okay."
The other officer went into the house and came back out. Heidi Pugliese arrived.
ME: "Can she get my phone?"
Moffitt: "Yes, an officer will go with her."
She got my phone, and I called my lawyer. I told him what was happening. He told me to ask them if I was under arrest. They said no, I could leave if I wanted to. But there was no way I was leaving my parrot in there with a bunch of strangers ripping through our house. Not going to happen.
So I decided to stay while they got the warrant. Moffitt asked Heidi, J (a part-time employee and relative of Heidi's), and me for our names and dates of birth.
He left to get the warrant. Detective Munson and other detectives/officers I didn't know sat at the edge of our driveway.
We found a ride for J. At that point, they had looked inside Heidi's car and saw movies. They said, "That car can't leave."
I sent texts to the people in the store. I told them they could leave by asking if they were under arrest.
I convinced Heidi to get cash from the ATM in case anyone was arrested.
I stood in the driveway for what felt like two hours. No way I was leaving my parrot, Paegen.
Moffitt returned with the warrant for the house and Heidi's car. He was unable to get one for the Bangor store.
Moffitt asked if I would like to come in once they cleared a room. I said yes, I would like to go into the room with the birdcage.
Several other plainclothes officers showed up, along with a couple of uniformed officers. They all went into the house. There were also two people from Walmart Global Investigations at my house, and I was told later they had been at the store as well. That should have been clue #1 for how the next decade was going to go for me.
Moffitt came back out and said I could sit in a chair in the living room.
Paegen the bird was screeching and screeching. The searchers were searching.
Moffitt (to me): "Do you want to save us some time and tell us where they are?"
Me: "The movies that were traded in today at the Brewer store?"
Moffitt: "Yes, in shrinkwrap."
Me: "Blu-ray?"
Moffitt: "I don't know, let me—"
Me: "They're upstairs in the front bedroom, on the shelf by the door with all the other movies."
He relayed that message to the searchers, and a couple of them ran upstairs. I started to tell them where the rest of the traded-in DVDs were, but they said they would talk to me later. I sat back down.
Our cat was milling around during the whole process, trying to get out each time the searchers came in and out of the house. I asked the female officer if I could put her in the bathroom and close the door. She said yes.
They started removing the computers and records they deemed important.
The searchers were there for about 25 minutes to an hour. I sat in the chair, reassuring Paegen that she was okay. Eventually, I covered her up to try to calm her down.
As they wrapped up, Munson (the computer guy) said to me, "I know you talked to a lawyer. Do you want to talk to me?"
Me: "No. When will we get our store computers back?"
Munson: "I don't know. I'll have to talk to the prosecutor and see who's going to be prosecuted. I can't talk to them until tomorrow."
Me: "Okay."
As they were leaving, he asked about the disc drive in the kitchen by the iPod and speakers.
Munson: "What is this?"
Me: "It's for loading music onto the iPods."
They left, and I uncovered Paegen.
In conclusion, I'd like to say this: while this event wasn't the final nail in the coffin for Edge Video, it was the first of many more to come. Even though we certainly tried, we never recovered from the seizure. It took a year and thousands of dollars in legal fees to get our computers back, and many of them were broken and unusable. We had to move to another physical location because our store and online businesses were damaged (we lost two promising selling sites: moviesfromtheEDGE.com & replacetvdisc.com). I personally started having strokes and would have 20 of them by 2015. Most of all, our spirits were crushed.
...And no charges were ever filed.
At the time, our database contained over 30,000 local customers' personal information. I asked my lawyer, "Didn't the Brewer PD break the law by seizing all of the video rental records?"
He replied, "That wasn't for me to decide."
I later discovered that we weren't the only ones targeted. Bull Moose, another local physical media retailer, had also been visited by multiple law enforcement agencies and members of Walmart Global Investigations. Additionally, many area pawn and resale shops had received similar visits. Strangely, none of them were served search warrants or had their computers seized. It would take several years before more pieces of this blurry puzzle could be put together.
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