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Alleged PAX East 'Breach' thief agrees to appear May 19 in Mass. court
Justin May, the man who allegedly attempted to steal Atomic Games' Breach at PAX East, has agreed to appear for arraignment in Boston Municipal Court on May 19, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. May was originally supposed to show up for his arraignment on Tuesday, March 30, but apparently decided he had more important things to do. May is accused of attempting to steal Breach, which Atomic Games values "in excess of $6 million." According to Suffolk Country District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark, May faces a maximum of five years for each of the the two theft charges and fines. We're currently following up to find out if he faces any additional charges for not showing up in court this week. A representative for Atomic Games tells Joystiq, "Atomic Games is happy to see justice being served. We hope the court understands the severity of the crime. This is a theft that impacts not just our company, but all developers who want to share our games with the public at large shows, such as PAX." Update: When asked if May would face any additional charges for skipping bail, press secretary Wark told us, "No, no additional charges at this point. He actually contacted the court upon learning of the default warrant and made arrangements to postpone the court date. Given that he and his whereabouts are known to authorities, that he has no criminal record, and that he affirmatively contacted the court, his request was granted. At the end of the day here, we aren't exactly dealing with John Dillinger, you know?"
Breach thief jumps bail, currently playing Modern Warfare 2 [update]
An arrest warrant has been issued for 20-year-old Justin D. May, the alleged thief of the Breach code at PAX East, after he failed to show up in a Boston court today. May posted $200 cash bail at the Boston Police station following his arrest and was ordered to appear for arraignment this morning. He was charged with larceny over $250 and "trade secret, buy/sell/receive stolen." As for May's potential punishment, especially now that he has fled, Suffolk Country District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark told Joystiq, "Both charges carry maximum five-year prison terms, though there are monetary fines as potential sentences. Neither offense carries a minimum term. Being a fugitive from justice carries a potential penalty in most states, but only in the jurisdiction to which a defendant flees. For the moment, he is only in default and not facing any enhanced penalties." According to the Boston Police report, May's attempted theft of Breach was valued at over $6 million dollars. May's current whereabouts are unknown, but we do have his Gamertag, which shows that wherever he is at the moment, he's playing Modern Warfare 2. Update 2: Added details about prison terms and fines. The person using May's Gamertag signed off after we contacted them. Update: The police report can be found after the break.
'Breach' game code theft at PAX East ends in arrest [update]
[Photo: Kevin Kelly] digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/30/breach-game-code-theft-at-pax-east-ends-in-arrest/'; An attempted theft of Atomic Games' Breach code on the PAX East show floor on the last day of the event was thwarted by vigilant members of the studio. According to a representative for the company, the suspected thief managed to download some of the code and then run into the crowd after he was spotted. He was eventually apprehended in the large crowd and the game's code was found on his computer. "The suspect did admit to us several times, including as he was doing it, that he was stealing the code. He said to myself and several other team members, after being caught, that it was not a big deal, he just really liked the game and wanted to play it with his friends," David Tractenberg, a spokesperson for Atomic, explained. "This guy had only succeeded in copying about 14MB to his laptop before our staff caught him," Atomic Games President Peter Tamte told Joystiq. "Because of the work we do for military and intelligence organizations, we take security issues like this very seriously ... It is fortunate for him that we caught him before any of this ended up on the internet. Many of the hackers who stole Valve's Half-Life 2 code were tracked down by the FBI's Cybercrime Task Force." %Gallery-88941%
