'New Moon' Theater Recording Lands Woman in Jail

By PopEater Staff Posted Dec 4th 2009 04:56PM

You could say that the love some 'Twilight' fans have for the vampire franchise is criminal. In the case of one Chicago woman, it is - literally. According to the Chicago Sun-Times (via EW), a woman spent two nights in jail and faces up to three years in prison for recording the movie 'New Moon' in the theater. But 22-year-old Samantha Tumpach claims she shot only a few minutes of footage, none of which she intended to pirate.

Tumpach says she was recording her sister's 29th birthday party, which took place at the theater - much of the tape features her relatives singing "Happy Birthday." A few minutes of the feature film were captured, however, and the young woman was arrested when a theater employee noticed Tumpach recording.

The manager decided to press charges, but Tumpach says, "It was a big thing over nothing. We were just messing around. Everyone is so surprised it got this far."

Officers who examined Tumpach's camera found she had taped "two very short segments" of the movie - no more than four minutes total, Cmdr. Frank Siciliano said.

"You can hear me talking the whole time," Tumpach said. "It was never my intention to record the movie."

Tumpach was taken to bond court on Monday, where a Cook County judge ordered her released on a personal recognizance bond that didn't require her to post monetary bail.

Tumpach will still have to face the felony charge of criminal use of a motion picture exhibition, but as EW points out, the real crime here isn't punishable by the justice system: annoying theatergoers with a powered-up camera in a dark theater.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=776119&pid=776118&uts=1259964385

http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/movies/?s_channel=us.moviespop&s_account=aolpopeater,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

'New Moon' Pics

You simply cannot avoid 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' this weekend. Check Out Pics of Everything 'Twilight,' from Party Pics to Rabid Fans >>>

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AGOEV

New Moon' Premiere

Actress Kristen Stewart attends a special screening of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' hosted by the The Cinema Society and D&G on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Actor Kellan Lutz attends a special screening of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' hosted by the The Cinema Society and D&G on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

Actress Ashley Greene attends a special screening of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' hosted by the The Cinema Society and D&G on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Actress Taylor Momsen attends a special screening of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' hosted by the The Cinema Society and D&G on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

ASSOCIATED PRESS