~Randa-dono

"Dattebayo Staff Arrested at Otakon [UPDATED 7/27]
2007/07/22

Baltimore, MD USA
Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:10PM EDT

Today at 5:57PM five members of the Dattebayo staff were arrested at the Baltimore Convention Center as they prepared for their panel as part of the Otakon Convention. Four uniformed police officers, along with legal counsel of a complaintent company, approached the stage shortly before the presentation was to begin. Witnesses said that along with the arrest, the officers seized the laptop of one of the group members, which was intended to be used for presentation purposes.

The officers, as well as the lawyers, would not respond to media inquires regarding the reason for these arrests beyond stating that they stemmed from the illegal reproduction of copyrighted works.

The panel, which was originally called "Fansubbing/Manga Scanlation" was recently renamed to "Dattebayo Fansubbing". Experts speculate that this may have alerted authorities to the location of the group members and left an opportunity for this course of action.

Witness reactions varied including one Richard Sequoa who said, "I just can't believe something like this could happen at our convention." Another witness, a Judy Hibertson, said, "I'm glad. This is what they get for their constant trolling. It's just not funny!"

When asked to comment, group member Interacti said, "I've been told by my lawyer not to say anything because of the sensitive nature of legal matters however this has been a trying experience and I'm glad my new cell-mate "Spikes" has been there to comfort me."

Update: July 22, 2007 - We've recently received further information that the arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday morning. We will continue to update as details are forthcoming.

Update: July 23, 2007 - Good news, the arraignment was rescheduled on short notice for early this morning. Naturally the staff plead not guilty. It just got done and the staff was released on bail. Pre-trial will be in two weeks. When asked for comment interactii had this to say, "<~interactii> MY ass is kinda soar". The staff is very grateful for the support that we've received via the feedback and chat room.

Update: July 24, 2007 - This afternoon state police arrived at the homes of several of the staff members who were arrested in Baltimore this last weekend. There they exercised a warrant to search and seize any electronic devices with the ability to copy, modify or redistribute audio and/or video media of a copyrighted nature. As such, several computers, hard drives, and even a few VCRs were seized during evidence collection. This has proven especially hard on one of the staff members who operates a home business and utilized their computer daily in that operation.

Update: July 26, 2007 - Late this afternoon, following the earlier searches of several staff members' homes, the state police arrived at the homes of the remaining members who had been arrested in Baltimore this last weekend. However, when they arrived at the home of one of the staff members they were surprised to find that the member had removed all the hard drives from his computer and they now lay in pieces in a garbage bag. Frustrated officers then began to yell at that staff member and accused him of destroying evidence. When the staff member met their response with silence they decided to take him into custody. Family members looked on in shock as they tasered this individual repeatedly despite him not fighting back. Suddenly, the staff member began to convulse on the floor. Doctors would later say that the individual had suffered an epileptic seizure, possibly resulting from the repeated tasering. Officers claim they then mistook these convulsions for an attempt at escape and one of the officers fired his firearm, injuring the individual. The injured staff member, in handcuffs, was later transported to a local hospital where he is now in critical condition in the ICU. The member's identity is not being revealed, on the request of his family. The staff member's lawyer has already been contacted regarding this incident. More details are sure to follow, and we will attempt to keep this story updated as details are forthcoming.

Update: July 27, 2007 - This morning at 02:43, Dattebayo staff member ImpSyn, also known as David Pryor, age 29, was pronounced dead. His death comes following a gunshot injury inflicted by a state police officer during the execution of a search and seizure warrant on his home yesterday afternoon. David owned and operated a small website design company out of his home. He leaves a wife and two children, ages 5 and 3 respectively. ImpSyn recently joined our staff when we were recruiting for an opening in the finish editor position. Despite only having worked on a few episodes of our popular releases, he was eager to meet us and join in on the panel at Otakon this year. His family initially requested that his identity not be given on this website, however in light of recent events they have reversed that decision. Currently his funeral arrangements are in planning. David's lawyer has been updated regarding this issue and has assured us that appropriate legal action will be taken, however at this time additional details cannot be released." (RECENTLY FOUND INFORMATION---)
"YHBT"

That's right folks. The bastards stuck a white text YHBT tag in there. That means it's fake. All the trolls they send out have a YHBT tag. I'm so fucking pissed at them right now. Sorry if anybody is getting offended. Gah, I hate them so much. If only they were bad at subbing I could have stopped using their fansub service. Apparently there are a lot of people on the Megatokyo forums hate these guys for doing illegal things like subbing american copy righted material. But here's the thing: BY THE TIME SHOWS LIKE NARUTO AND POKEMON GET TO THE AMERICAN AUDIENCE, IT'S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SHOW, WHERE THE WORDS "BELIEVE IT" AND "GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL" BECOME COMMON, WHEN THEY WERE HARDLY EVER USED BEFORE!! I don't have a huge problem with the dubs of Bleach. I don't like them, but they aren't terrible like Naruto. I don't even have that big a deal with pokemon, but maybe that's because it's extremely nostalgic for me. I'm turning thirteen in eighteen days, yo. Higashi-nee-chan won't be in town. Neither will Shinigami-kun. Wow, both those names are completely incidental. Taylor was wearing a shirt with a kanji on the back and we were trying to remember what it was. Then I was like, "I remember it now! That's the kanji for Higashi, which means east!"
"Ooooh, yeah, you're right. That would explain why it says east on the front."
I hadn't payed attention to the front, and I don't think she was being sarcastic. And Ashley wanted a Shinigami so she asked if Sterling would be her Shinigami, and he said yes, and then he became my Shinigami as well, so yeah. Alright, I'm out yo.