A fifth member of the BitTorrent piracy ring, IMAGiNE, was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison on Wednesday. 

Javier Ferrer, 41, was also given three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution.  Back in late November 2012, the Floridian pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.  The leader of the group, Jeramiah Perkins, was sentenced to five years in prison back in January. 

In a press release, the Department of Justice called IMAGiNE “the premier group to first release Internet copies of movies only showing in theaters.” 

As we reported last year, the group was accused of running their BitTorrent ring from September 2009 to September 2011, where they allegedly would "cam" new movies showing in theaters.  While one person was capturing the video, someone else would capture the audio portion in theaters and drive-ins.  Then, according to the indictment, the defendants would allegedly "digitally refine" and "edit" the audio and video files before releasing them over BitTorrent. 

Specifically, the group is charged with seeding copies of The Men Who Stare At Goats, Avatar, Clash of the Titans, and other films.  In some cases, they took advantage of the movie theater’s infrared or FM audio system, usually used by people with hearing impairments.  Both systems work by transmitting the audio from the control room to individual headsets equipped with a receiver. 

NOTE: To be clear, BitTorrent the protocol, which these pirates were using, has nothing to do with BitTorrent the company, which does not condone these their actions, nor does it have any involvement with this piracy ring.