A trio of Texas-based software counterfeiters plead guilty to charges of piracy Friday, for running a handful of pirated software stores that generated more than $1 million in sales.

Their stores, valuesoftwaresales.com, esoftwarevalue.com, allsoftwaredownload.com, and priceslashsoftware.com, reportedly specialized in the distribution of fake Adobe software like Photoshop and Flash – a favorite target of counterfeiters due to the programs’ consistently high price and demand.

Court records indicate that over a 28-month period, Thomas Rushing III, 24; Brian Rue, 29; and William Partridge, 24; generated $1.2 million in revenue over a 28-month period ending in May, 2007. A press release published by the U.S. Department of Justice pegs the value of their sales at $2.5 million, and says the three promoted their business through advertisements on web sites and “major Internet search engines”.

The Justice Department says it has obtained, so far, 32 felony convictions for various piracy charges. The trio’s arrest comes as the result of a Business Software Alliance investigation into their operation, which in turn was prompted by a complaint from Adobe.

Last month, a Portland, Oregon-based man was sentenced to 48 months of federal prison time, plus three years’ probation and the forfeiture of more than $220,000 in cash and computers, for running an eBay-based business that specialized in counterfeit software. Reports indicate he used more than 40 fake accounts, plus a flurry of stolen bank accounts, to conceal his identity.