crazy_guy_123
03-10-2011, 02:18 PM
c/p Toronto Star
Nicole Baute and Jennifer Yang
Staff Reporters
When Heather Millard moved into her apartment at 150 Graydon Hall Dr., she was offered an affordable cable television package from a company she had never heard of.
It was called Accelerated Digital and could be hooked up right away.
“We thought it was absolutely, completely legit,” says Millard, 32.
But when her channels started to flip around mysteriously — one day Channel 66 was BET, the next it was BBC — she knew something wasn’t right.
Now Millard believes she was paying for pirated television. Accelerated Digital and the owners of her building are being sued by Bell ExpressVu and Shaw Direct for allegedly stealing satellite television signals and selling the service to tenants in her apartment building and two others on Graydon Hall Dr.
“I would never buy stolen items,” said a frustrated Millard, who now has no cable at all.
In Bell’s statement of claim filed Jan. 24, the company accuses Accelerated Digital of conspiring with the owners of three apartment buildings on Graydon Hall Dr. and defrauding the satellite companies “in a high-handed, malicious and reprehensible fashion.”
Shaw filed a companion action on the same day. Each company is seeking $10 million in damages.
Spokespersons with Bell and Shaw said they could not comment on the case because it is before the courts.
Both lawsuits name multiple defendants and their aliases, including Kurt Pieckenhagen, who is listed as president of a numbered company that owns the three North York buildings, located at 50, 100 and 150 Graydon Hall Dr., in the Don Mills Rd. and Highway 401 area.
Other defendants include Pieckenhagen’s wife, Julita, various companies linked to the family, and four people named as their children. The couple’s son, Curt-Michael Pieckenhagen, is director of Accelerated Digital, according to the claim.
The Pieckenhagens have yet to file a statement of defence, according to Melvyn Solmon, counsel to the family with the exception of Curt-Michael. He said it would be inappropriate for his clients to comment on the case as it is before the courts.
Messages left for Curt-Michael were not returned and his sister, Nicole Pieckenhagen, said he is currently out of town.
Nicole, founder and managing director of the upscale conference hall, Graydon Hall Manor, is named in the Shaw lawsuit but said Wednesday she knew “virtually nothing” about it.
Millard said when she moved into her apartment in August with her boyfriend, Adam Mann, and their daughter, Presley, a leasing agent told them Rogers cable did not service the building. They were told they had two options: Accelerated Digital, which offered packages for $20, $37.50 and $55, and Bell ExpressVu, which they would need special permission to have installed.
They picked Accelerated Digital, but found it odd that their channels didn’t match the television listings in the Star. Sometime in November or December, the channels began to change.
When Millard went to the rental office on Feb. 7 to pay her cable bill she was told Accelerated Digital was going under. The next day, property management dropped off a letter saying they “had been informed by Accelerated Digital” they were no longer able to provide their residents with cable service.
The letter said they had made temporary arrangements with Bell ExpressVu for a 30-day period and were “in the process of working with other cable providers to provide cable to (their) residents.”
Tenants who spoke to the Star Wednesday said they still have cable service, but aren’t sure where it is coming from.
According to the court filings, Bell first grew suspicious of the Graydon Hall apartments in March 2007. Since then, Bell has conducted a clandestine investigation, with private investigators following and photographing the Pieckenhagens. On several occasions between November 2009 and last January, the investigators rented Graydon Hall apartments in order to test their satellite signals.
Shaw launched its own investigation after Bell notified it of the possible scheme in April 2010.
In affidavits, investigators allege the Pieckenhagens were using an unauthorized satellite television system to decode and retransmit satellite signals sent to legitimate accounts linked to family members and aliases.
Bell’s senior investigator, Wayne Gow, said there are some 869 units in the three buildings but there is no way of knowing how many tenants had subscribed to the pirated channels, or for how long.
Bell estimates it could have lost as much as $2.3 million per year to the alleged scheme. An investigator for Shaw pegs his company’s losses at as much as $1 million per year since 2003.
In order to complete their investigation, Shaw and Bell requested special permission to enter the Graydon Hall buildings and gather evidence. In his affidavit, Gow said the defendants were likely “technologically sophisticated” and he feared that if they caught wind of the investigation, they would have time to dismantle any equipment and destroy electronic evidence.
On Jan. 28, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the request and gave the companies permission to enter, without notice, the rental office at 100 Graydon Hall and a residential address on Carlaw Ave. co-owned by Curt-Michael Pieckenhagen and his wife, Megan Anderson.
They were also given permission to enter a “black Lexus” allegedly used by Curt-Michael Pieckenhagen “in the course of carrying out the alleged unlawful activities.”
According to Gow, pirated television is a multi-million dollar industry in North America and has caused Bell ExpressVu “substantial losses and harm.” He said the company has brought numerous civil actions in Canada to recover damages.
Nicole Baute and Jennifer Yang
Staff Reporters
When Heather Millard moved into her apartment at 150 Graydon Hall Dr., she was offered an affordable cable television package from a company she had never heard of.
It was called Accelerated Digital and could be hooked up right away.
“We thought it was absolutely, completely legit,” says Millard, 32.
But when her channels started to flip around mysteriously — one day Channel 66 was BET, the next it was BBC — she knew something wasn’t right.
Now Millard believes she was paying for pirated television. Accelerated Digital and the owners of her building are being sued by Bell ExpressVu and Shaw Direct for allegedly stealing satellite television signals and selling the service to tenants in her apartment building and two others on Graydon Hall Dr.
“I would never buy stolen items,” said a frustrated Millard, who now has no cable at all.
In Bell’s statement of claim filed Jan. 24, the company accuses Accelerated Digital of conspiring with the owners of three apartment buildings on Graydon Hall Dr. and defrauding the satellite companies “in a high-handed, malicious and reprehensible fashion.”
Shaw filed a companion action on the same day. Each company is seeking $10 million in damages.
Spokespersons with Bell and Shaw said they could not comment on the case because it is before the courts.
Both lawsuits name multiple defendants and their aliases, including Kurt Pieckenhagen, who is listed as president of a numbered company that owns the three North York buildings, located at 50, 100 and 150 Graydon Hall Dr., in the Don Mills Rd. and Highway 401 area.
Other defendants include Pieckenhagen’s wife, Julita, various companies linked to the family, and four people named as their children. The couple’s son, Curt-Michael Pieckenhagen, is director of Accelerated Digital, according to the claim.
The Pieckenhagens have yet to file a statement of defence, according to Melvyn Solmon, counsel to the family with the exception of Curt-Michael. He said it would be inappropriate for his clients to comment on the case as it is before the courts.
Messages left for Curt-Michael were not returned and his sister, Nicole Pieckenhagen, said he is currently out of town.
Nicole, founder and managing director of the upscale conference hall, Graydon Hall Manor, is named in the Shaw lawsuit but said Wednesday she knew “virtually nothing” about it.
Millard said when she moved into her apartment in August with her boyfriend, Adam Mann, and their daughter, Presley, a leasing agent told them Rogers cable did not service the building. They were told they had two options: Accelerated Digital, which offered packages for $20, $37.50 and $55, and Bell ExpressVu, which they would need special permission to have installed.
They picked Accelerated Digital, but found it odd that their channels didn’t match the television listings in the Star. Sometime in November or December, the channels began to change.
When Millard went to the rental office on Feb. 7 to pay her cable bill she was told Accelerated Digital was going under. The next day, property management dropped off a letter saying they “had been informed by Accelerated Digital” they were no longer able to provide their residents with cable service.
The letter said they had made temporary arrangements with Bell ExpressVu for a 30-day period and were “in the process of working with other cable providers to provide cable to (their) residents.”
Tenants who spoke to the Star Wednesday said they still have cable service, but aren’t sure where it is coming from.
According to the court filings, Bell first grew suspicious of the Graydon Hall apartments in March 2007. Since then, Bell has conducted a clandestine investigation, with private investigators following and photographing the Pieckenhagens. On several occasions between November 2009 and last January, the investigators rented Graydon Hall apartments in order to test their satellite signals.
Shaw launched its own investigation after Bell notified it of the possible scheme in April 2010.
In affidavits, investigators allege the Pieckenhagens were using an unauthorized satellite television system to decode and retransmit satellite signals sent to legitimate accounts linked to family members and aliases.
Bell’s senior investigator, Wayne Gow, said there are some 869 units in the three buildings but there is no way of knowing how many tenants had subscribed to the pirated channels, or for how long.
Bell estimates it could have lost as much as $2.3 million per year to the alleged scheme. An investigator for Shaw pegs his company’s losses at as much as $1 million per year since 2003.
In order to complete their investigation, Shaw and Bell requested special permission to enter the Graydon Hall buildings and gather evidence. In his affidavit, Gow said the defendants were likely “technologically sophisticated” and he feared that if they caught wind of the investigation, they would have time to dismantle any equipment and destroy electronic evidence.
On Jan. 28, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the request and gave the companies permission to enter, without notice, the rental office at 100 Graydon Hall and a residential address on Carlaw Ave. co-owned by Curt-Michael Pieckenhagen and his wife, Megan Anderson.
They were also given permission to enter a “black Lexus” allegedly used by Curt-Michael Pieckenhagen “in the course of carrying out the alleged unlawful activities.”
According to Gow, pirated television is a multi-million dollar industry in North America and has caused Bell ExpressVu “substantial losses and harm.” He said the company has brought numerous civil actions in Canada to recover damages.