Crooks will receive punishment in August 2016

May 3, 2016 22:01 GMT  ·  By

Two of several suspects arrested for running a trio of fake Android app stores pleaded guilty today in an Atlanta court and are now awaiting sentencing.

The two are Aaron Blake Buckley, 22, of Moss Point, Mississippi, and  Gary Edwin Sharp II, 29, of Uxbridge, Massachusetts. The two admitted to running Applanet, a website that distributed over four million pirated copies of Android apps that caused financial damages of $17 million to the app's legal owners.

The two are the first suspects ever arrested on pirating mobile apps and ran their website from May 2010 through August 2012, when the FBI seized their domain along with two others, SnappzMarket and Appbucket.

Buckley ran Applanet while Shar ran SnappsMarket

According to the FBI, Buckley was in charge of Applanet while Sharp had a minor role. Sharp later created his own Android piracy portal in the SnappzMarket service, along with other individuals. Among them were Kody Jon Peterson, 22, of Florida, Joshua Ryan Taylor, 24, of Kentwood, Michigan, and Scott Walton of Cleveland, Ohio.

Prosecutors accused Sharp and his acolytes of distributing over one million copies of pirated Android apps and causing financial damage of $1.7 million in the process.

Later in 2012, authorities also arrested three other men, Thomas Allen Dye, 21, of Florida, Nicholas Anthony Narbone, 26, of Florida, and Thomas Pace, 38, of Oregon, for running the Appbucket Android store and distributing pirated apps.

All suspects eventually pleaded guilty

All men initially fought against the prosecution but eventually pleaded guilty one by one. Buckley put up the biggest fight, at one point trying to raise money for his legal defense via an Indiegogo campaign.

Buckley was the last one to plead guilty, admitting his role in the whole operation yesterday. Sharp pleaded guilty on January 13, this year. Buckley and Sharp's sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 1, 2016.

The Applanet, SnappzMarket, and Appbucket cases represent the first time US authorities have gone after mobile app pirates.