BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
LAKEWOOD — Police charged a total of 13 vendors with selling counterfeit Gucci and Coach goods following Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 sweeps at the Route 70 flea market, according to Lakewood police Capt. Rob Lawson.
“Police are charged with enforcing the law and this is a very serious crime,” Lawson said. “These goods are being passed off as the original items and [that] hurts jobs and the economy in the United States and infringes on these companies’ trademarks.”
All of the suspects were given a summons for the third degree crime of trademark counterfeiting and then released. Lawson said the charge is an indictable offense.
He said the eight men and five women charged were all born in China but were currently living at addresses in Manhattan, Queens, and upstate New York. Vendors told police they came to the United States from Shanghai, Zegian, Wenzhou and Georgian, China. Lawson said the suspects provided police with Social Security cards and driver’s licenses as identification.
In the first raid on Oct. 2, Lawson said police seized more than 5,000 pieces of evidence that included clothing, accessories, compact discs and DVDs. Police also confiscated more than $8,000 in cash and six vans owned by vendors at the flea market who were charged with the crime. Lawson said police would seek a court order of forfeiture to keep the seized property.
Vendors charged in the first sweep on Oct. 2 included a 17-year-old juvenile male. Police also issued summonses to Sunhu Zhang, 25. and Jiansheng Lin, 25. of Manhattan; Hua Tie Zhang, 27, Wei Nan, 23, Qimiao Hu, 21, Shen Hu, 48. and Bin Wei Nan, 18, of Corona, Queens; Jian Chun Hu, 42, of Woodside, Queens; and Ziao Qui Huang, 29, of Amhurst, N.Y.
Lawson said Huang had been charged with selling counterfeit goods twice in the last month.
On Oct. 9, police charged three vendors with selling counterfeit goods. Those charged were Jan Zig Hu, 40, of New York City; Fu Guang Zhou, 44, of Elmhurst, N.Y.; and Xiu Hua Chen, 41, Flushing, N.Y.
Police seized more than 1,300 pieces of evidence, two vehicles and approximately $300 cash in the Oct. 9 sweep, said Lawson. He said police would also seek an order of forfeiture for property confiscated during the second sweep.
Detective Sgt. Joseph Isnardi led the Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 sweeps. Detectives Harry Van de Zilver and Steve Wexler and officers Robert Humeny, Patricia Van de Zilver and John Latyshev accompanied him on Oct. 9. Other members of the street crimes unit are Detective Gregory Stafford Smith and officers Richard Stanick and Erick Menck.
“I didn’t really expect to find these vendors there selling their counterfeits, based on the arrests made [the previous] week,” said Lawson. “But sure enough, they [were] out there again.”
No one from the Route 70 flea market and consumers’ market returned a call from the Tri-Town News. A recorded message informed vendors that for $5 on Friday and $10 on Saturday and Sunday they could rent a table to sell their goods.
Through an interpreter, Fu Guang Zhou, whose vehicle was seized by police, told a reporter from the Tri-Town News on Monday that he did not sell the counterfeit goods. His interpreter said he sold bamboo shoots for a living and only transported friends’ goods to the flea market on Oct. 9. Zhou tried to contact Lakewood police earlier that day, but his interpreter said he was unable to reach anyone at the department and left a message.
Lawson said police did not have an interpreter who could speak Mandarin or Cantonese, the two main dialects in China.
“I know some people do this kind of thing to make a living, but … I don’t know why they chose that particular flea market,” he said. “If people frequent these flea markets and see vendors selling inexpensive designer items, they should call the police immediately. They may think they’re getting a great bargain, but they’re hurting our economy and encouraging people to commit these crimes.”