A California man faces 51 months in prison for selling fake chips to the Navy.

One has to wonder about a man who thinks he can get away with selling thousands of counterfeit chips to the U.S. Navy. Apparently, 32-year-old Neil Felahy of Newport Coast, California had that kind of mentality, and has now pleaded guilty to conspiracy and counterfeit-goods trafficking. The alleged chip-counterfeiting scam took place between 2007 and 2009, and included Felahy's wife and her brother.

According to this press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, the trio sanded off the brand markings of cheap chips and melted the plastic casings with acid to make them appear like rival brands or better models of the original brand. The group also used counterfeit chips as well, and applied the same process to make them appear as high-quality chips.

The Department of Justice said that the trio performed the operation under various names including MVP Micro, Red Hat Distributors, Force-One Electronics and Pentagon Components. The trio also racked in big bucks, importing more than 13,000 counterfeit chips worth more than $140,000 USD. Their portfolio of counterfeited chips included fake versions of Intel, Fujitsu, Analog Devices, VIA, and National Semiconductor.

Apparently, the operation was discovered via the U.S. Navy: the trio sold the fake chips to the Naval Sea Systems Command, the group responsible for maintaining the U.S. Navy's ships and systems. Felahy now faces up to 51 months in prison and fines totaling in the millions. He entered his guilty plea on the condition that the charges would be dropped against his wife.

Meh, we hate generic chips... unless they're on sale, that is.

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Two YouTube rappers are serving jail time for making threats against specific law enforcement officers.

This week a lawyer representing a Canadian woman over Facebook pictures and insurance benefits said that Internet users need to be aware that anything posted online is out there for all to see. With that in mind, two young Massachusetts men should have heeded those words, as they now face possible jail time for making public threats on YouTube.

24-year-old Mathew Rufino of New Bedford and 28-year-old Jason Foley of Fairhaven created a threatening rap video and uploaded it to YouTube. Unfortunately, the two were no longer protected by Free Speech when they actually mentioned the names of a probation officer and a state trooper. The duo also sported guns and threw in noises of "a firearm discharging," elevating the video to a potentially threatening level, perhaps even a possible crime.

"When you view the brazenness of the threats in a post-9/11 era, it certainly poses concern and we didn't wait,'' said New Bedford Police Lt. Jeffrey Silva. According to The Boston Globe, the two rappers were located and arrested last weekend and appeared in court on Monday. The court judge ordered that the due remain behind bars until a hearing scheduled for next Monday that determines if they will remain in jail.

Foley's mom chimed in to the whole ordeal, claiming that her son was no threat, and that he had hoped the video would catch the eye of a would-be producer. "They didn't think anything was wrong with what they did," she said.

Sure they didn't, mom.

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