Prison for Indiana Jones Thief

Ex-con gets two years in prison after copping plea to raiding Steven Spielberg's office and making off with computers containing movie info

By Josh Grossberg Nov 01, 2007 9:33 PMTags

A California ex-con just earned himself a place in his very own Temple of Doom.

Roderick Davis will serve prison time after accepting a plea deal Thursday for charges related to the theft of computers containing behind-the-scenes secrets of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from Steven Spielberg's office.

The 37-year-old Cerritos, California, resident pleaded guilty to one count of receiving stolen property and one count of commercial burglary for plotting to sell the stolen goods online, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Davis, who has prior felony convictions for burglary, grand theft and receiving stolen property, had faced up to four years in state prison. His deal cut it to 28 months.

The plea bargain is a turnaround from Davis' Oct. 5 court appearance, during which he pleaded not guilty to all charges.

There was no immediate comment from Paramount or the Indiana Jones brain trust of Spielberg and George Lucas.

Davis has been jailed since Oct. 4, when he was first accused of raiding Spielberg's office and making off with a virtual treasure trove of Crystal Skull artifacts. The cache included 2,500 photos from the top-secret fourth Indiana Jones installment, a detailed budget breakdown and other production info.

According to authorities, Davis then contacted a number of Websites in an attempt to sell his spoils to the highest bidder.

After hearing of the clandestine seller, executives at Paramount Pictures, Indy's distributor, alerted the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. A week earlier, the department's detectives had taken a report about laptops and stills stolen from Spielberg's headquarters on the Universal Studios lot.

Steve Whitmore, the department's spokesman, says investigators set up a sting operation.

After emailing Davis and expressing interest in buying the stash, undercover deputies set up a meeting at the Standard Hotel in West Hollywood. Davis brought the goods and he was collared. None of the material has turned up online.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring Harrison Ford as the whip-wielding archeologist, heads to theaters May 22, 2008.