Elgin man busted with pirated DVDs, guns

Approximately 1,000 DVD movies that were copied illegally and two guns were confiscated when Elgin police raided a home on the 600 block of Keep Avenue Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The owner of the DVDs and guns, Ricky W. Baldwin, 35, of the Keep Avenue address, was charged in court Thursday afternoon with two counts of unlawful use of unidentified audiovisual recordings and two counts of unlawful possession of a gun without a firearm owner's identification card, police said.

On Jan. 23, an undercover Elgin police officer went to the home and purchased six DVDs for $20 from Baldwin, police said.

The movies, including titles like "Gran Torino," hadn't been officially released on DVD yet, the police officer said.

Elgin police went back to the home Wednesday afternoon where they found about 1,000 DVDs, a 9 mm Ruger handgun and a Tec 9 revolver, police said. Baldwin had a firearm owner's identification card, but it had been revoked.

Baldwin said he usually sold his DVDs for $5 each, police said.

Baldwin's bond was set at $2,000.

He posted bond Thursday afternoon and was released from custody.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 13 at the Kane County Judicial Center.