The owner of Schoolkids' Music and Clothing, 12 S. Court St., pleaded guilty to selling bootleg recordings Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Columbus.

No sentencing date has been set yet for Tony Santone, who agreed to pay $15,000 to the Recording Industry Association of America as part of his plea bargain.

Santone's charges stem from a 1996 U.S. Customs Search of Schoolkids'.

Agents seized about 1,500 illegal compact disks of live performances from a locked room in Schoolkids'. Santone had the only key to the room. The CDs were valued at $30,000.

Santone received the recordings from a distributor in New York.

The maximum he could be sentenced is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

In 1994, Schoolkids' also was criticized for selling R.E.M.'s Monster album an hour before the official release time.

Warner Bros. Records, the band's recording label, was upset because it is illegal to sell CDs early.

- Jenny Applegate