Then ladies and gentlemen, I have found the AT's virgin Mary.

I'd like you to meet Marie-Pier Côté, 12 years old (What are the odds). Since the articles I'll link to are in french, I'll do my best to resume/translate what happened with her in hopes of dissuading more 12 years old girls to steal arts and stories.

I'd like to start with saying not ALL 12 years old girls are art thieves. I know a couple who are working REALLY HARD at their art, it's original, it's creative, etc.

BUT.

Sadly, the majority of art thieves on DevArt are in fact, 12 years old and female. This is a real problem.

Here's the story of one of you and how she got caught. No, PWNED.

Marie-Pier's adventure in thievery starts in January of last year, when she submitted a script to the Les Intouchables editions. It got accepted practically right away out of 125 submissions, making her the youngest novel writer in Canada. Her book, Laura L'immortelle (Laura the Immortal) sold like hot cakes, she got interviewed, the whole shibang. During her interview, she claimed that the ideas were bounced off back and forth between her and a french friend on the internet.

Then...

Two months later, people came back after reading the book and told Michel Brûlé, the editor in chief of Les Intouchables, that Laura had a lot in common with Highlander a rather well known movie if you ask me. Some of the similar details include;
Main character is an immortal;
There is a character named MacLeod;
Death only happens by decapitation;
They are sword-trained;

And a lot more details that are present in the article I've linked to.

Brûlé claimed he never read the book cover to cover and never saw the movie Highlander, but after doing some research, he did conciede there were a lot of similarities. Marie-Pier still claimed it was because she bounced off ideas off her friend, basically putting the blame on her. It was concluded she was victim of her own naiveté, having never watched the movie.

Now, that's just my two cents, but there were movies, a live-action series and even a cartoon. If you don't know even a wee bit about Highlander, get out from under your rock, please.

At least her parents would know a lil bit about Highlander or some friends or even some teachers!

The story doesn't end there.

The mediatisation of this mini-scandal attracted the attention of an French tech, Frédérick Jeorge. It seemed very familiar to him so he bought a copy and read it...

Only to discover it was a 99% perfect copy of his 2001 Highlander Fanfiction, Des Cendres et du Vent.

You can bet your pocket change he contacted Les Intouchables about this.

Michel Brûlé had to agree with the proof Jeorge sent to him and slapped Marie-Pier's parents with a hefty fine, 24,469.32$ for the impression of the books and 5000$ of compensation. All proceeds from the book will be given instead to the real author, Frédérick Jeorge.

She got caught in her lies and now she pays the price for it. Her parents have to give a large amount of money for what she thought was a lil white lie nobody would notice, she has to face her friends and family with that mistake that cost her her reputation and possible future as an author.

So I tell you, the art thief that claims she drew Nana's everyday life, or the Orphan pic straight off of GaiaOnline, or ANY art thief that is possibly reading this.

It's not worth it. Stop claiming other people's work as your own. You WILL get caught. Stop now. When you get caught, you will pretty much lose EVERYTHING. Stop before it's too late.