I know some of you shop here... newsday/long-island/nassau/police-raid-lavish-creations-store-in-wantagh-on-counterfeiting-charges-1.9667760?pts=658986 The shoppers inside a Wantagh warehouse store were expecting bargains on Louis Vuitton handbags and Burberry trench coats, but instead were greeted by a swarm of Nassau cops shouting: Put your hands over your head! A Thanksgiving night police raid of the Lavish Creations store resulted in the arrest of three people accused of selling counterfeit luxury goods imported from China -- bearing popular brand names including Ugg and Hermes -- online and at the Wantagh location, Nassau police said. Police executed a search warrant for the business at 1220 Wantagh Ave. and the Levittown home of one of the alleged counterfeiters and found an estimated $1 million in fake goods, a few thousand dollars in cash and a laptop computer believed to be used in the operation, said Det. Sgt. Patrick Ryder, commanding officer of Nassaus intelligence unit, which conducted the raid. Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter also attended. Police believe the business, which was selling all types of clothing, was operating for about two years and accepted cash and credit cards, Ryder said. advertisement | advertise on newsday You got it coming from China, which has all sorts of labor issues, Ryder said. You dont know if that dress that youre buying is made with some type of chemicals. And the countys not getting their taxes from the sales and the companies are not getting their revenues. This type of crime drives the prices up for the legit businesses. Paula Ligotti, 39, of Levittown; Kristy Barbosa, 36, a Massapequa native who lives in Harrison, New Jersey; and her husband, Paulo Barbosa, 38, also of Harrison, were arrested inside the warehouse store and each charged with four counts of second-degree counterfeiting, police said. They declined to comment as police walked them out of the building in handcuffs about 10:30 p.m. All three defendants pleaded not guilty at their Friday arraignments in First District Court in Hempstead, a district attorneys spokesman said. Many of the counterfeit items seized in this raid are products marketed to parents and their children that have not gone through any safety checks, and could be made with unsafe and untested materials, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. Prosecutors asked for $5,000 cash bail, but all three were released on their own recognizance and are due in court Tuesday. The 30 or so shoppers in the cramped second-floor store where the goods were warehoused -- some accompanied by small children -- were not charged, police said. Also for sale were backpacks, lunchboxes and hats and scarves bearing the logo of Disneys popular Frozen movie, police said. The raid, dubbed Operation Black Thursday, followed a monthslong investigation during which an undercover Nassau police detective bought goods three times from the warehouse store that used to house a doctors office -- buys that officers secretly recorded, police said. The counterfeiters advertised the stores intermittent hours on websites. Counterfeiting is big business. The number of seizures by U.S. authorities of counterfeit and pirated items increased almost 7 percent in fiscal year 2013 over the previous year, with the goods valued at $1.74 billion, according to a federal report this year. Federal authorities reported making about 66 seizures daily, with an average value of $71,500 -- with the majority of the goods coming from China. Nassau police were first tipped to the Wantagh operation when U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted two shipments of merchandise addressed to Ligottis Levittown home on Swing Lane earlier this year at an international shipping port in Long Beach, California. William P. Ryan, a Manhattan-based investigator who works for well-known brands to root out counterfeiters and was also alerted, began investigating and was able to link the shipments to the Wantagh site. He shared the information with Nassau police. Ryan, a retired NYPD detective, said many consumers think its harmless to buy counterfeit goods. Its a crime, Ryan said. It saps millions of dollars out of the economy, supports organized crime, terrorism and child labor. Thursday nights raid followed a finely tuned script: The undercover detective, who was wearing a wire, entered the store five minutes past the 10 p.m. opening and bought a Louis Vuitton-branded purse for $230 using cash marked so police could later identify it. Outside in unmarked cars, detectives listened in real time. As the undercover finished checking out, he told the clerk, Merry Christmas, the code words telling those waiting the raid was on. Police raid Lavish Creations store in Wantagh on counterfeiting charges - Newsday The shoppers inside an LI warehouse store were expecting bargains on Louis Vuitton handbags and newsday
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:58:16 +0000
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