For a pair of brothers who police say ordered about 3,200 DVD's from the company, the time had come.
Police say starting last March, William Linser, 29, of Woodbury and George Linser, 37, of Bayside, began ordering merchandise from the Indiana-based music club en masse. They are accused of answering the Columbia House ad, a buy one DVD at full price and buy five more at 49 cents each, 675 times.
Only there were three problems: one, most of the orders were sent to an Elmont address, under different names, where police say the pair's mother lived.
Two, their mother, police say, was unaware of who her sons were up to.
And, perhaps most importantly, police say they never paid a dime for the more than $60,000 worth of movies they ordered.
Police believe the idea behind the scam was to get the merchandise for free and then sell them over the internet for $5 to $10 a pop, and then pocket the money.
Columbia House officials did not become suspicious of the repeated addresses until last month, when they called the Post Office and an investigation was underway.
Nassau County Police believe their mother, who is elderly, had no knowledge of what her boys may have been up to.
The Linsers were arraigned last week and both charged with second-degree larceny, which carries a 10 years prison term. They were also charged with computer trespass, a four-year penalty. The two were released under supervision will be back before judge this week.
