Mark Lutz
This guy harassed tens of thousands over the phone during the past two years. Mark Colins Lutz, Prenda’s paralegal, used to call victims telling them that they had broken the law — either the copyright law or the CFAA. Sometimes he used his real name, sometimes he did not identify himself, sometimes used a bogus name Jeff Schultz.
Note that, to put it politely, Mark is not exactly a person who has a moral right to lecture others about the law violations: prior to becoming a Prenda’s goon, Mark worked as an insurance salesman in Illinois and used to break the law there.
On 7/29/1997 Lutz was speeding under influence in Park Forest, IL, which resulted in his arrest. He was charged with four counts:
- Failure to reduce speed;
- Driving under influence of alcohol;
- Driving under influence / Blood Alcohol Content > 0.08;
- Failure to notify damage to unattended vehicle.
According to the documents linked above, the arrest warrant is still open.
Since this episode happened a long time ago, I believe Mark had another problems with the law more recently: his driving license was apparently revoked/suspended: on 11/27/2006 he was caught driving on revoked license. A warrant for this case is also active, according to the county website.
But that’s not all: Mark was apparently caught driving without license in Cook County, IL, as well, and the warrant, issued on 9/12/2007 (a nice 30th birthday gift!) is still active (according to the Will county circuit court website):
Other Mark’s shenanigans include:
- 04/29/1997 — Milwaukee county, WI: open (according to the county site) arrest warrant for
- Criminal damage to property;
- Disorderly conduct;
- Possession of controlled substance.
- 08/05/1997 — Park Forest, IL: Resisting peace officer (warrant not extended, quashed on 9/13/01 – 25th birthday gift was more pleasant than the one mentioned above).
- 05/07/2007 — DuPage County, IL: caught driving without license. This case is resolved — a judgment was issued, I don’t have any idea if the fee was paid.
- 7/13/2008 — Zionsville, IN: Possession of marijuana (warrant status is unknown: waiting for information).
- Early January 2013: troubles with law in Mexico.
So, to the best of my knowledge, at least four arrest warrants are still open (one Cook and two Will county warrants in IL and one in Milwaukee county, WI), which means that Mark Lutz is a wanted fugitive and may be arrested if he shows up in the counties that want him.
Currently, Mark Lutz resides in Miami Beach, Florida, and his last known address is here — even if he moved since then, authorities still can track and arrest him, but… according to a criminal lawyer I consulted with,
It is up to the state that wants him whether he has to come back. So Florida could detain him, call IL and they might say “not worth the $25K to extradite, cut him loose.”
…which is, alas, the most likely scenario. Things would be different if Mark was not a poor call center guy, but a wealthy person who could pay a bail — a CEO of a company that operates a nationwide business, for example, or a father of an offshore trust beneficiary.
Nonetheless, I hope this information will be remembered when Lutz is summoned to an Illinois Court. Not that I believe he will appear, but notifying US Marshals still makes sense.
Filed under: Prenda
