Rodney Gray, an employee of major packaging warehouse, Technicolor, was just charged with the theft of property after Memphis police recovered $100,000 worth of games and DVDs, including the unreleased games Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. Police discovered Gray's stolen goods in a bag with him after pulling him over for outstanding driving offenses, a further investigation revealed even more stolen property in Gray's apartment that Gray had intended to sell on the black market. As of yet, Technicolor has not released a statement on Gray's employment or the thefts. A police report also indicates another man being investigated for stealing stolen games from Technicolor, but no changes have been made yet. Full story and more after the jump.

Nearly 100 copies of unreleased sequels to two popular video games were recovered this week after they were stolen from Technicolor for sale on the black market.

 

A Technicolor employee has been charged with theft, and another man is under investigation.

A Technicolor security worker reported the theft of games for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and also a number of DVDs on Wednesday.

The games, "Gears of War II" and "Fable II," haven't been released to the public. Neither have some of the missing DVDs.

According to its Web site, Technicolor provides disc and game packaging, warehousing, distribution and production at its facility at 4155 E. Holmes.

An investigation led Memphis police detectives to Technicolor employee Rodney Gray, according to a police affidavit.

Detectives watched Gray leave his room Thursday at the InTown Suites, 3533 Hickory Hill, with a red bag.

They pulled him over for several outstanding driving offenses and found 31 games in the bag.

Detectives went back to the room and found a number of games and DVDs there. He told them he works at Technicolor and took the games and DVDs to sell, the affidavit states.

Developer Epic Games bills "Gears of War II" as the sequel to a "third-person tactical action game" featuring "reluctant war hero" Marcus Fenix. It's scheduled for release Nov. 7.

"Fable II" offers players the chance "to live the life they choose in an unimaginably open world environment," according to developer Lionhead Studios. It's scheduled for release Tuesday.

Officers recovered a total of 97 copies of the games, according to the affidavit. Another 807 DVDs were confiscated. All together, the games and DVDs were valued at more than $100,000.

It's unclear how many of the games and DVDs were sold on the street.

A Technicolor spokeswoman in Memphis was unable to immediately provide more details on the theft or Gray's employment history Friday morning, then didn't return calls.

Gray, 43, is accused of theft of property worth $60,000 or more. He's also accused of driving on a suspended license.

A police report obtained Friday also lists another man who's being investigated for selling games stolen from Technicolor, but he hasn't been charged.

Well, that explains how so many new releases have been getting leaked over the past month or so. It's awesome that they found this guy. Let's hope they can crack down further and prevent thefts like these in the future, right?