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36-year-old LOTR stuntman, thief to be named, counseled - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

August 09, 2000 at 14:08:01

Weathering some harsh criticism from their online rivals by continuing to post more detailed coverage of LOTR film news, Stuff reports that the stuntman who surrendered 17 videotapes may be named.

A 36-year-old stuntman was arrested on June 24, 2000 after attempting to sell stolen video footage from Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" production. New Zealand police conducted a six-week investigation into the LOTR-gate Internet smuggling scheme which resulted in three arrests.

The judge of the case has ordered that the name suppression be lifted, but the defendant's attorney is appealing the order, so the New Zealand media will not name him for at least another 7 days.

Sentencing included, in addition to the 12 months supervision reported earlier, psychological counseling. According to reports, no video footage was actually released over the Internet.