Acting on a tip stemming from a weekend raid of a rock music swap meet, Buena Park police on Monday seized 15,000 bootleg tapes, albums and other illegal recordings from a Hollywood storage room.
Record industry officials received an anonymous tip Monday that Neal Schustack, 36, of Los Angeles, one of 15 vendors cited by police Sunday for selling bootleg merchandise at a swap meet at the Sequoia Athletic Club in Buena Park, had many more illegal recordings in storage.
Buena Park police confronted Schustack, who then gave permission to inspect his rented storage room at 6632 Lexington Ave. in Hollywood, according to Sgt. Terry Branum.
Police said that the merchandise and equipment, which filled a truck, are worth at least $50,000. Branum said the evidence shows Schustack was manufacturing counterfeit albums as well as selling bootleg recordings of concerts.
On Sunday, police confiscated about 10,000 tapes and other recordings during an undercover investigation and raid of the popular swap meet that is held on the fourth Sunday of every month.
Record industry officials said the Sunday raid was one of the largest seizures of bootleg products on the West Coast. Most of the merchandise seized was recordings of live performances by rock musicians, including Paul McCartney, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
The cases of the 15 vendors will be referred to the Orange County district attorney's office for prosecution. Most of the citations are expected to lead to misdemeanor charges. Police said Schustack could face felony charges because of the amount of materials found and the evidence that he was manufacturing them.
