Fresno Man Arrested For Streaming 'Deadpool' To 5 Million People Before It Was Released

The 2016 wise-cracking superhero action flick Deadpool remains the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, ‘pool’-ing in a staggering $363 million domestically. But it could have made even more money had five million people not watched it for free on Facebook eight days after it was released, and the Fresno man who pirated that version and posted it to Facebook was arrested Tuesday and faces up to three years in prison according to the Fresno Bee.

21-year-old Trevon Maurice Franklin was arrested Tuesday and charged with copyright infringement. Franklin not only posted the film to his Facebook account — which ostensibly made him much easier to track down! — but also reproducing and distributing copies of the film that federal authorities estimate at a value of $2,500.

It didn’t take long for the FBI to figure out that Franklin had illegally distributed the film, but it somehow took 16 months to arrest him. A federal grand jury handed down an indictment on April 7, and appeared Tuesday in a U.S. District Court. He is not currently in custody, and no bond has been set.

A Deadpool sequel is currently in the works, and is scheduled for release in June 2018. And perhaps eight days later on Facebook.

Related: SFist At The Movies: Deadpool