Ok, I don't mean the pirates of the high seas, I mean the modern day music and movie downloading kind of pirates. Specifically I mean my ex. First, let me explain how my ex is, to give you an idea of what he is like. My ex is 37 years old and has never held a job in his life for more than 8 months at a time, and that's the job he had when I met him. Apparently he was caught stealing from it and he was fired. For the next 6 years it was myself and my mother that supported him and our children. He is a very manipulative person. He had already ruined his own credit, so while we were together he did things like putting cars in my name, and then getting rid of them without filing the proper paperwork, and I ended up with my license getting suspended because of it and he took my bank card and emptied my account out, and other things like this. He cheated constantly, and then tried to blame it on me, basically all but ignored our kids, though he does to this day favor our older daughter. He always makes our younger daughter feel alienated. I got fed up in late 2003 and he moved out. We worked clumbsily at fixing things, but then I discovered that he was cheating on me with the girl that he had cheated on me with when I was pregnant with our first daughter (don't ask, I claim temporary insanity), and at that point I couldn't take the drama anymore, so I ended it for good. So he manipulated the two eldery men that live next door to his sister and convinced them that they needed him living with them to take care of them. Til his sister put her foot down, so the next step was to get serious with that new gf of his, and they got an apartment together, no doubt it was with HER money. My ex is a scam artist extraordinaire. If he can con someone, or find a less than ethical way of making money without having to do any real work, that is the path he chooses to follow. He did fix cars from time to time to make money, but I never really saw that money. Here's an example of things he has done in the past to make money:
Selling weed for his cousin who is a drug lord
Buying brand new items that had "fallen off the back of one truck or another" and then selling them
Befriending the elderly and then going into their houses after they die and taking whatever he thought might be valuable before their spouse or family could come in and complain or notice. He would target people who were pretty well isolated from their families, so that much of the belongings that they had accumulated would not be noticed if he took them. He was also good at smooth talking the surviving relatives.
Selling or trading away things of mine or the childrens', or my mother's
And more that I probably don't even know he did. Let me say right now, I did not condone anything illegal or immoral, and I fought him tooth and nail on it, and that's probably one of the main reasons, besides his cheating, as to why we separated. After we split, he went on to become a pirate.
His gf, he's still with her, I assume is ok with immoral and illegal activity so long as she has the money to go clubbing and get her nails done, and get drunk, because he doesn't hide it from anyone. When my best friend died in January of last year, I had to travel back North to Chicago to attend the wake, and since my ex hadn't gotten to see my kids for Christmas, he invited me and my older DD who I had brought with me, over to his and his gf's apartment, which is inside HER mother's apartment building for dinner. He knew full well I wasn't letting him take her alone, so he invited me too. We ate a nice dinner, and after dinner the plan was to watch a movie. His gf had picked me up at my aunt's and we had stopped at a Redbox to rent a couple of movies that they didn't already have at their place. So after dinner we move to the living room where he begins to brag about this awesome cable box he has that he picked up somewhere or the other. It is suppose to get ALL the cable channels, even PPV, FREE, because it somehow copies codes or something and transmissions. I'm not clear on how it works, but I was not impressed. The whole time I'm thinking...how illegal is this? So then we watched the Redbox movies. He didn't watch them with us, it was just my daughter, his gf, and myself. After the last movie he comes out with a stack of movies in his hands. I'm alarmed now, because I can see these are bootleged. He hands them to me and says he copied them for me, the girls and my mother, and that it was a bunch of movies he knew we would like. I took them, and later got rid of them. So, I know there is something like a $250,000 fine PER MOVIE for doing what he does, so why risk it? Because he sells the movies before they even come out for like $10 a piece, and he apparently makes quite a bit because they live relatively comfortable, though he loves to complain about how they are alway broke and that's why he has no money to send me. Yeah, if you're broke, how did you get that 50" tv on your wall? Or afford that illegal cable box? Or put that ring on gf's hand? Or pay for her bi weekly nail jobs? Yeah, I could go on and on and on. He does this with music too. I complained when he downloaded songs off the internet from my computer a few years ago when he bought them MP3 players. My kids didn't like that and therefore refused to listen to the players. They were so scared after watching an episode of ICarly that they would go to jail for what their dad had done. Well, come to find out that he's been talking on the phone with my mother, and I'm afraid he's going to get her into trouble. He convinced her to download Limwire, and to start downloading her own movies. Fortunately for us, our internet slows down with downloads, and after 3 days, yes 3 DAYS of trying to download 3 movies, only one actually downloaded. I threw a fit, lectured her about the dangers, and she basically told me to stuff a sock in it, he knew what he was talking about, and if he was doing it, then so could she. Ok, fine, you want to believe a liar and a cheat over your own flesh and blood? So be it. If the FBI ever came knocking on my door, I'd point them STRAIGHT to her bedroom door. So, fast forward, Limewire doesn't work, mom pouts, he sends her about 30 bootlegged movies, TO MY HOUSE! She's thrilled, I'm angry as all get out, and he thinks it's perfectly ok. Am I wrong to think this? Um, pretty sure I was raised with morals, though I think my mother has forgotten some of the ones she instilled in me. Ok, so on June 6th, the day my neighbor and I got into the car accident, we were discussing her niece, who I liked a lot. I thought she was a nice girl, good head on her shoulders, even if she was a little slow (suffered fetal alcohol syndrome), and last I knew Iris had excitedly left for college with dreams of making honor roll and graduating at the top of her class. Iris left for college last year. Well, my neighbor proceeds to tell me that Iris is in big trouble. Apparently she's been downloading movies and music off the internet at the rate of hundred to thousands, and the FBI found out. Well, they came after Iris. She is being fined something like $250,000 PER MOVIE, and a similar amount per song download. They confiscated her computer, and are going after everyone she lives with, gave these movies and songs to, etc. The poor lady she lives with is a probation officer, and now she stands to lose her job for the simple reason that Iris used HER internet connection to do it. It was Iris' computer though, but the FBI doesn't care. They went after Iris' older sister too, who basically renounced Iris. So she's not going to be penalized. My neighbor won't be bothered because she didn't allow Iris to come stay with her when people were asking her to let the kid come stay with her, and now she's very glad she did. So now Iris is looking at millions of dollars in fines and a VERY long time in prison. She's maybe 4 ft 9 and about 90 lbs. Yeah, she'll do GREAT in there! Well, after the accident, when I had calmed down and was back home safe and ALIVE, I told my mom what my neighbor had told me. This sent my mom into a panic. She deleted the movie she had downloaded and the Limewire. However I don't think she realizes that it's still on her hard drive and unless she got rid of the computer completely, the FBI could still come after her if fingers were pointed. However, she kept the movies. I have been slowly, deliberately scratching them, one by one, and claiming they are beyond repair, and then throwing them out. I don't want them in my house!!! I don't want to get in trouble because my ex is a lazy thief!
So, here is my moral dilemma, should I just sit quietly and keep my mouth shut? Or should I place an anonymous call to the FBI? It's a delicate matter in that he and his gf have a kid together. Would both parents get in trouble? Would HER parents get in trouble? I'd hate to see that kid without parents. Yeah, someone would take her, he has sisters and brothers, she has sister and brothers, but it bothers me. But he won't stop, ever! He sees nothing wrong with lying and stealing to get what he wants, and I am the complete opposite of him. He has since sent another batch of these pirated movies to my house. I think that unless he gets punished formally, he won't stop, and my mother will continue to listen to his nonsense. If I call, I don't even want her to know that I did it because I don't want her thinking I did it because I don't want him to have any contact with my kids, because that's not true. Well, I DON'T, but that's because he isn't teaching them anything except how to lie and steal by his actions, and he tells the girls it's ok! That if it's on the internet it's MEANT to be downloaded!
What kind of message does that send to my children? And my mom, well, she's as stubborn as they come. She has to be really scared or have a gun put to her head in order to get her to do something, so I am left pondering. Do the right thing legally, just keep my yap shut and deal with this constantly looming threat since I know the FBI is cracking down now more than ever on pirating? Any advice?
Selling weed for his cousin who is a drug lord
Buying brand new items that had "fallen off the back of one truck or another" and then selling them
Befriending the elderly and then going into their houses after they die and taking whatever he thought might be valuable before their spouse or family could come in and complain or notice. He would target people who were pretty well isolated from their families, so that much of the belongings that they had accumulated would not be noticed if he took them. He was also good at smooth talking the surviving relatives.
Selling or trading away things of mine or the childrens', or my mother's
And more that I probably don't even know he did. Let me say right now, I did not condone anything illegal or immoral, and I fought him tooth and nail on it, and that's probably one of the main reasons, besides his cheating, as to why we separated. After we split, he went on to become a pirate.
His gf, he's still with her, I assume is ok with immoral and illegal activity so long as she has the money to go clubbing and get her nails done, and get drunk, because he doesn't hide it from anyone. When my best friend died in January of last year, I had to travel back North to Chicago to attend the wake, and since my ex hadn't gotten to see my kids for Christmas, he invited me and my older DD who I had brought with me, over to his and his gf's apartment, which is inside HER mother's apartment building for dinner. He knew full well I wasn't letting him take her alone, so he invited me too. We ate a nice dinner, and after dinner the plan was to watch a movie. His gf had picked me up at my aunt's and we had stopped at a Redbox to rent a couple of movies that they didn't already have at their place. So after dinner we move to the living room where he begins to brag about this awesome cable box he has that he picked up somewhere or the other. It is suppose to get ALL the cable channels, even PPV, FREE, because it somehow copies codes or something and transmissions. I'm not clear on how it works, but I was not impressed. The whole time I'm thinking...how illegal is this? So then we watched the Redbox movies. He didn't watch them with us, it was just my daughter, his gf, and myself. After the last movie he comes out with a stack of movies in his hands. I'm alarmed now, because I can see these are bootleged. He hands them to me and says he copied them for me, the girls and my mother, and that it was a bunch of movies he knew we would like. I took them, and later got rid of them. So, I know there is something like a $250,000 fine PER MOVIE for doing what he does, so why risk it? Because he sells the movies before they even come out for like $10 a piece, and he apparently makes quite a bit because they live relatively comfortable, though he loves to complain about how they are alway broke and that's why he has no money to send me. Yeah, if you're broke, how did you get that 50" tv on your wall? Or afford that illegal cable box? Or put that ring on gf's hand? Or pay for her bi weekly nail jobs? Yeah, I could go on and on and on. He does this with music too. I complained when he downloaded songs off the internet from my computer a few years ago when he bought them MP3 players. My kids didn't like that and therefore refused to listen to the players. They were so scared after watching an episode of ICarly that they would go to jail for what their dad had done. Well, come to find out that he's been talking on the phone with my mother, and I'm afraid he's going to get her into trouble. He convinced her to download Limwire, and to start downloading her own movies. Fortunately for us, our internet slows down with downloads, and after 3 days, yes 3 DAYS of trying to download 3 movies, only one actually downloaded. I threw a fit, lectured her about the dangers, and she basically told me to stuff a sock in it, he knew what he was talking about, and if he was doing it, then so could she. Ok, fine, you want to believe a liar and a cheat over your own flesh and blood? So be it. If the FBI ever came knocking on my door, I'd point them STRAIGHT to her bedroom door. So, fast forward, Limewire doesn't work, mom pouts, he sends her about 30 bootlegged movies, TO MY HOUSE! She's thrilled, I'm angry as all get out, and he thinks it's perfectly ok. Am I wrong to think this? Um, pretty sure I was raised with morals, though I think my mother has forgotten some of the ones she instilled in me. Ok, so on June 6th, the day my neighbor and I got into the car accident, we were discussing her niece, who I liked a lot. I thought she was a nice girl, good head on her shoulders, even if she was a little slow (suffered fetal alcohol syndrome), and last I knew Iris had excitedly left for college with dreams of making honor roll and graduating at the top of her class. Iris left for college last year. Well, my neighbor proceeds to tell me that Iris is in big trouble. Apparently she's been downloading movies and music off the internet at the rate of hundred to thousands, and the FBI found out. Well, they came after Iris. She is being fined something like $250,000 PER MOVIE, and a similar amount per song download. They confiscated her computer, and are going after everyone she lives with, gave these movies and songs to, etc. The poor lady she lives with is a probation officer, and now she stands to lose her job for the simple reason that Iris used HER internet connection to do it. It was Iris' computer though, but the FBI doesn't care. They went after Iris' older sister too, who basically renounced Iris. So she's not going to be penalized. My neighbor won't be bothered because she didn't allow Iris to come stay with her when people were asking her to let the kid come stay with her, and now she's very glad she did. So now Iris is looking at millions of dollars in fines and a VERY long time in prison. She's maybe 4 ft 9 and about 90 lbs. Yeah, she'll do GREAT in there! Well, after the accident, when I had calmed down and was back home safe and ALIVE, I told my mom what my neighbor had told me. This sent my mom into a panic. She deleted the movie she had downloaded and the Limewire. However I don't think she realizes that it's still on her hard drive and unless she got rid of the computer completely, the FBI could still come after her if fingers were pointed. However, she kept the movies. I have been slowly, deliberately scratching them, one by one, and claiming they are beyond repair, and then throwing them out. I don't want them in my house!!! I don't want to get in trouble because my ex is a lazy thief!
So, here is my moral dilemma, should I just sit quietly and keep my mouth shut? Or should I place an anonymous call to the FBI? It's a delicate matter in that he and his gf have a kid together. Would both parents get in trouble? Would HER parents get in trouble? I'd hate to see that kid without parents. Yeah, someone would take her, he has sisters and brothers, she has sister and brothers, but it bothers me. But he won't stop, ever! He sees nothing wrong with lying and stealing to get what he wants, and I am the complete opposite of him. He has since sent another batch of these pirated movies to my house. I think that unless he gets punished formally, he won't stop, and my mother will continue to listen to his nonsense. If I call, I don't even want her to know that I did it because I don't want her thinking I did it because I don't want him to have any contact with my kids, because that's not true. Well, I DON'T, but that's because he isn't teaching them anything except how to lie and steal by his actions, and he tells the girls it's ok! That if it's on the internet it's MEANT to be downloaded!
