Las Vegas, Nev. - Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, announced that VLADISLAV PHILIP VOSS, aka STEVE VOSS, pleaded guilty on April 11, 2002, in United States District Court in Las Vegas to a Criminal Information charging Conspiracy pertaining to the unauthorized reception of cable service in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371 and Title 47 United States Code, Sections 553(a)(1) and (b)(2).

VOSS, 28, a resident of Miami, Florida, was born in the Ukraine, but became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988. According to the Plea Memorandum, from about August 1999 to January 2000, VOSS used his businesses, Cosmos Trading Corporation and Vossdom Electronics, to sell unauthorized cable television de-scrambler boxes to purchasers throughout the nation. VOSS advertised this service on numerous web sites, and orders were typically called into a toll-free number, which VOSS and his co-conspirators set up specifically for that purpose. The orders were then e-mailed by a co-conspirator to VOSS in Miami, and VOSS then relayed the orders to other co-conspirators in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Kansas City, Missouri, who shipped the unauthorized cable television de-scrambler boxes. The cable de-scrambler boxes were being manufactured at 2350 E. Patrick, in Las Vegas, and VOSS also rented a house in Las Vegas, located at 9553 Sunken Reef, from which he stored and shipped the unauthorized cable television de-scrambler boxes.

According to the Plea Memorandum, VOSS is also agreeing to identify as being subject to forfeiture, monies in several bank accounts and safe deposit boxes in Florida, a 2000 Mercedes SUV, and a 1999 Aprilia Scooter.

None of the co-conspirators have been charged at this time.

VOSS is scheduled to be sentenced in Las Vegas on July 22, 2002, before U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan. VOSS is facing a maximum period of imprisonment of five years, a fine of $250,000, and a three-year period of supervised release. The actual sentence will be dictated by the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed in the discretion of the Court.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Districts of Nevada, the Western District of Missouri, and the Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella in the District of Nevada, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller in the Western District of Missouri, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Byrne in the Southern District of Florida.

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