Tea Party leader arrested on piracy charges

[Friendo1231]

A heavyweight for the political Tea Party movement in the south has most likely just crippled his potential political future.

61-year-old Anthony Trinca was arrested for allegedly selling pirated versions of high-end computer software. Microsoft Office, Windows, Adobe Photoshop, and Rosetta Stone language programs were all listed as software that he sold illegally.

Trinca is the president of the Grand Strand Tea Party, based in South Carolina, which strives to spread messages about how big government is evil and that America needs to return to its conservative roots.

His software piracy scheme came to an end after one of his customers purchased four copies of Rosetta Stone software, and then tried to resell the software himself. The person he sold it to found out it was an illegal copy.

So when he tried to go back to Trinca for a refund, Trinca refused. That's when the police got involved.

Local news station WMBF reports that Trinca kept all sorts of software packages around his home. His son Michael, 23, was also arrested for the same charge.

Specifically, both face charges of "unauthorized use or trafficking in counterfeit trademarks" are were released on $5,000 bond.

It is another blow to the already crumbling Tea Party, which didn't have as strong a presence in the last midterm election as expected, and is losing favor as the noted leaders of the movement fail to deliver on their promises.

http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-...omputer-piracy

He really put the "tea" in "stealing".

[GrnEyedDvl]

One idiot doesnt ruin the Tea Party, guilt by association doesnt work for me. How many of Obama's appointees got caught not paying taxes? Does that mean every Democrat is a tax thief?

[DimeBagHo]

If you google "Anthony Trinca" all you get is links to this story. If you google "Grand Strand Tea Party" all you get is a link to a defunct web site, plus a bunch of links to this story. So if this guy was a Tea Party leader then apparently no one noticed until after he got arrested.

[Seether]

One idiot doesnt ruin the Tea Party, guilt by association doesnt work for me. How many of Obama's appointees got caught not paying taxes? Does that mean every Democrat is a tax thief?

Where did it say that in the OP? Are you getting defensive and jumping to conclusions again?

[chilon]

Where did it say that in the OP? Are you getting defensive and jumping to conclusions again?

It happens when you have so many tea party leaders doing and saying idiotic things.

[DimeBagHo]

It happens when you have so many tea party leaders doing and saying idiotic things.

I'd like to see some evidence that he is a Tea Party leader.

[removeduser_487563287433]

One idiot doesnt ruin the Tea Party, guilt by association doesnt work for me. How many of Obama's appointees got caught not paying taxes? Does that mean every Democrat is a tax thief?

I'm interested, how many?

[Admiral Piett]

I'm interested, how many?

Treasury Secretary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy...nal_tax_issues

Health Secretary Nominee:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Das...ion_nomination

Labor Secretary's husband (no one's spouse is ignorant of the other's failure to pay taxes):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_S...etary_of_Labor


Chief Performance Officer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Killefer

Secretary of Commerce Nominee:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ri...rce_nomination

Trade Rep.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Kirk

[mrmouth]

I'm interested, how many?

Don't do that to him, he's on a roll.


I think the "crumbling" idea is based on the significant low turnout now for TP events, and the fact that many of the smaller grassroots TP groups have vanished, just like this guys.

The last big "call to arms" (lol) on capital hill was for the budget talks and 40-50 showed up.

[Enemy of the State]

Intellectual "property" is an entirely statist notion and infringes upon real property rights, by not allowing individuals to use their property to copy certain patterns. It's a government granted monopoly, and goes against free market principles. Property exists to manage scarcity, but intellectual property doesn't do that, it instead creates scarcity. This is the consistent libertarian position and the Tea Party should join the fight against IP.

[Prosaic Visitant]

He really put the "tea" in "stealing".

lulz, clever.

While this may not have much of, if any, an effect on the TP, it will be used as fodder for TP opponents, politicians and not.

[NotYetRegistered]

American hero.

[Vanoi]

This is the local news WMBF news: http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/151508...nterfeit-goods

Here is the facebook page for the Grand Strand Tea Party: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-...27852583925482
One of the posts is by Anthony Trinca.

Here is Anthony's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/people/Antho...nca/1840360384
His activities include the Grand Strand Tea Party and the Myrtle Beach Tea Party.

[GrnEyedDvl]

He was a minor leader, if that, certainly not a "heavyweight" as the article contends.

Where did it say that in the OP? Are you getting defensive and jumping to conclusions again?

This is the bias in the article.

It is another blow to the already crumbling Tea Party

The crumbling party that took elections last Nov? The crumbling party that is forcing the standoff over the debt celing? Whether you agree with them or not, they are a force to be reckoned with. I bet this paper didnt call it a blow when Obamas treasury secretary got caught with $500k in unpaid taxes.

[Vanoi]

He was a minor leader, if that, certainly not a "heavyweight" as the article contends.

The only reason they are calling him a heavyweight leader is because how involved he is in the Tea Party. He founded the Grand Strand Tea Party and participates in the Myrtle Beach one. He is a heavyweight leader in terms of the local region really, not really a national leader.

[GrnEyedDvl]

Exactly, but heavyweights are by definition national.

Rush Limbaugh is a heavyweight.
George Soros is a heavyweight.
This guy is a nobody.

[Vanoi]

Exactly, but heavyweights are by definition national.

Rush Limbaugh is a heavyweight.
George Soros is a heavyweight.
This guy is a nobody.

I know but this was reported by a local news station. They mean heavyweight in terms of the local area or region, not really national. If he truly was a national leader we would see major news network reporting on this.

[DimeBagHo]

I know but this was reported by a local news station. They mean heavyweight in terms of the local area or region, not really national. If he truly was a national leader we would see major news network reporting on this.

I don't even believe this. How could someone be a leader, even a local leader, without leaving a trace on the web? Google news turned up exactly one story that mentions him prior to this one, and that just described him as "a tea party member".

[Vanoi]

I don't even believe this. How could someone be a leader, even a local leader, without leaving a trace on the web? Google news turned up exactly one story that mentions him prior to this one, and that just described him as "a tea party member".

He does have a trace on the web. Those links i posted to his facebook were from me searching his name and the Grand Strand Tea Party. This is a local thing here. Its the reason why only a local news station is reporting this. He is a heavyweight only in terms to the local area or region, nothing more.

meh, local organiser is a thief, nothing to see here really

This.

[DimeBagHo]

He does have a trace on the web. Those links i posted to his facebook were from me searching his name and the Grand Strand Tea Party. This is a local thing here. Its the reason why only a local news station is reporting this. He is a heavyweight only in terms to the local area or region, nothing more.

(1) His own facebook shows nothing. (2) He last posted something to the Grand Strand Tea Party wall more than six months ago, and that doesn't indicate that he was in a leadership position. (3) Whoever owns the Grand Strand Tea Party facebook account hasn't posted anything since 2010.

If anything this looks like proof that he was a nobody, that the Grand Strand Tea Party barely exits, and that if he was a leader in the Grand Strand Tea Party, then no one noticed until he got arrested.

*edit* This other thread is a lame attempt to associate the views of one guy, who is a leader of a minor part of the Tea Party movement, with the entire movement. But at least that guy really is the President of an organisation, and the organisation has some members, and it has played some part in the Tea Party movement. This thread, however, is too pitiable to call lame. All we have is a nobody who listed a defunct organisation as one of his interests on Facebook.