BALTIMORE STORE OWNER SENTENCED TO 30 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR SELLING COUNTERFEIT LUXURY APPAREL AND ACCESSORIES



3,600 Counterfeit Items Seized from Three Stores Worth Over $400,000



Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Marvin Anthony Johnson, age 47, of Baltimore, today to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for trafficking in counterfeit goods in connection with selling of counterfeit items with brand names such as Coach, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Polo and Nike. Judge Blake also required Johnson to forfeit $23,957 in unlawful proceeds seized by law enforcement in September 2010.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Colonel Terrence Sheridan, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

"Counterfeiters like Mr. Johnson rip off consumers by selling substandard products," said William Winter, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Baltimore. "The protection of intellectual property is a top priority for HSI, as counterfeit products represent a triple threat by delivering shoddy and sometimes dangerous, goods into commerce, by funding organized criminal activities and by denying Americans good-paying jobs."

According to his guilty plea, Johnson owned and operated a retail

store known as "Prestigious Fashions" located at 501-A Pennsylvania, Avenue in Baltimore; a sales booth known as "Marvin's Prestigious" located within the North Point Flea Market on North Point Road in Baltimore; and.another sales booth within Hunter's Sales Barn, located on Jacob Tome Memorial Highway in Port Deposit, Maryland. From July to September 3, 2010, Johnson sold counterfeit luxury apparel and accessories from those stores that bore trademarks identical to trademarks used by Coach, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Polo and Nike.

In August 2010, undercover Baltimore County Police officers twice purchased counterfeit goods from Johnson at the two sales booths. Johnson said the items were "fake" and also told undercover officers that he hosts "purse parties" in order to sell the counterfeit items. Baltimore County police officers observed Johnson selling other counterfeit goods.

On September 2 and 3, 2010, law enforcement executed search warrants at six locations and vehicles associated with Johnson and seized approximately 3,600 items of counterfeit luxury wearing apparel and accessories with the above stated brand names, among others. The lost retail value, or infringement amount, of the goods seized is estimated to be between $400,000 and $1 million. Officers also seized approximately $23,957 in cash. Also located in Johnson's van was a cease and desist letter from Coach, directed at the owners/operators of a flea market, and outlines the illegalities of selling counterfeit goods. Johnson’s handwriting appeared on the back of the letter in which he made notations regarding further sales of counterfeit goods.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the Baltimore County Police Department, ICE - HSI and the Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Sandra Wilkinson, who prosecuted the case.

Source: http://www.cybercrime.gov/

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO TRAFFICKING IN COUNTERFEIT GOODS

BUFFALO, N.Y.-- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Marvin R. Hardy, Jr., 36, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, to trafficking in counterfeit goods and access device fraud. Trafficking in counterfeit goods carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $2,000,000. Access device fraud is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that Hardy sold counterfeit purses bearing counterfeit marks from Versace, Burberry, Kate Spade, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Coach, Balenciaga and Coco Chanel at the “The Purse Barn” in West Seneca, New York. The defendant also charged $2,900 for transactions that never occurred on the credit cards of four customers. Those customers had previously used their credit cards at The Purse Barn.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Richard W. Kollmar, Acting Special Agent In Charge. The West Seneca Police Department assisted in the investigation under the direction of Chief Edward Gehen.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 21, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. EST, in Buffalo, N.Y., before Judge Skretny.

Source: http://www.cybercrime.gov/

COMPUTER PROGRAMMER SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR UNAUTHORIZED COMPUTER ACCESS

The Defendant Accessed ATMs Using Malicious Computer Code

CHARLOTTE, NC - A former Bank of America (BOA) computer programmer was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison yesterday, to be followed by two years of supervised release for unauthorized access to the financial institution’s protected computers, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Russell F. Nelson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Charlotte Field Division

U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney also ordered Rodney Reed Caverly, 54, of Mint Hill to pay restitution in the amount of $419,310.90. The restitution amount includes $284,750 Caverly stole from ATMs and $134,750.90 in costs incurred by BOA to remove from the bank’s ATM computer system a malicious computer code entered by Caverly. U.S. Secret Service agents also recovered $167,010 of stolen cash based on information provided by the defendant.

According to court records and sentencing proceedings, Caverly, who was hired by BOA to design and maintain its computer systems, had been assigned to work on a project involving the bank’s automated teller machine (ATM) system. Filed documents and court records show that from March 2009 to October 2009, Caverly knowingly and with intent to defraud exceeded his authorized access by gaining access to one or more protected BOA computers and deployed a malicious computer code to select BOA ATMs. The malicious code caused a limited number of infected ATMs to disburse cash from the ATMs without any transaction record of the cash disbursements. The code Caverly entered caused only the unauthorized disbursement of cash stored in the ATM machines and did not affect any financial accounts of BOA’s customers.

Caverly pleaded guilty on April 13, 2010 and was released pending his sentencing hearing. Upon designation to a federal facility, he will report to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by the U.S. Secret Service, Charlotte Field Office, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Malley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.

Source: http://www.cybercrime.gov/

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