ROCKFORD — Another nine Rockford-area residents have been accused of stealing satellite television as part of DirecTV’s nationwide anti-piracy campaign launched late last year.

On May 22, the California-based company sued 32 Rock River Valley residents in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois Western Division in Rockford. Two weeks ago, the company filed suit against nine more, claiming that they, too, have purchased illegal devices used to gain unauthorized access to protected TV signals.

After nearly a year, the company has sued more than 11,800 people across the country. And company officials say they will continue to take residential users to court until satellite television piracy is a thing of the past.

Robert Mercer, director of public relations with DirecTV, said the defendants tend to be “your average, typical, law-abiding citizen who wouldn’t dare steal a piece of fruit off of an open-air fruit stand, but think nothing of stealing our signal and breaking federal law.”

The lawsuits ask for $10,000 to $100,000 in monetary damages for each illegal theft device that DirecTV claims the defendants purchased during the past three years.

DirecTV execs are not reporting overwhelming victories or defeats in the lawsuits. They say some cases have been settled, with courts ordering defendants to pay DirecTV for losses. Some have been dismissed. Most are still working their way through the legal system.

Some people listed in the most recent suits think DirecTV is making a mistake.

Robert VanSpankeren of Rockford, listed in the most recent group of lawsuits, says he is a longtime — and current — DirecTV customer. He said he knows nothing about illegal purchases or satellite piracy.

“I’ve been a subscriber for five years,” VanSpankeren said. “That’s all I can tell you.”

Some of the recently named defendants will appear in federal court Oct. 22.

Mercer said the company obtained evidence against the defendants during a series of raids conducted in several states in 2001. DirecTV seized volumes of business records during the raids and used the information to investigate and target individuals who recently bought devices used to obtain free satellite television.

“I think most people have felt that they can do this anonymously,” Mercer said. “We have lifted the cloak of anonymity. We are sending a very strong message.”

Mercer said the company has no way of estimating how much money it loses because of satellite signal theft. It spends millions each year on anti-piracy efforts from engineering and technological development to legal and investigative matters. It had gone after the manufacturers and distributors of the illegal satellite TV devices for years. Mercer described the residential user lawsuits as “tackling every link in the food chain.”

DirecTV is based in El Segundo, Calif. It is the second largest pay-television service in the country with 11.4 million customers nationwide.

The average DirecTV customer pays $60 a month for satellite television service. Specialty programs, such as the NFL Sunday Ticket, cost $200 a season.