Police: Counterfeit purses seized from Howland home
By DARCIE LORENO Tribune ChronicleArticle Photos
HOWLAND - After an anonymous tip, police seized several hundred counterfeit designer purses, sunglasses and nearly $30,000 from a Laurelwood Drive home Thursday.
While there aren't yet any known links to a much larger bust in McKinley Heights last week, one woman is in jail on an immigration detainer and detectives continue to investigate their find.
"There's no direct link at this point between cases," Chief Paul Monroe said.
The department received a tip Thursday afternoon that a box truck had been backed in to a driveway at 543 Laurelwood Drive and people were carrying boxes into the garage, police report states.
When officers arrived, Qiao Ling Liu, 32, was unable to open the front door because of a key deadbolt locked from the inside. She instead let them through the garage door, where several boxes of Chanelle, Gucci, Coach, Fendi and Christian Dior purses were in plain sight, police said.
A search warrant was obtained, and about 500 purses, wallets and handbags, two boxes of counterfeit designer sunglasses, a firearm, a 2003 Acura sports utility vehicle and $30,000 in cash were confiscated from the home and the garage. Officers also also found records of merchandise transactions, police said.
Liu said her husband, Kong Hua Ni, 29, sells the items at flea markets. While Ni was not arrested when he arrived later in the day, Liu was taken to Trumbull County Jail on an immigration detainer and could be subject to deportation, depending on results from an investigation through Homeland Security, officers said.
No charges have been filed against either because it's not yet officially confirmed the items are counterfeit, police said. Detective Nick Roberts said an expert from one of the purse companies will inspect the items next week. If they are, charges of trademark counterfeiting could be filed.
Records show Liu owns the house, but officers said it is up for sale.
Last week, Weathersfield police found in a McKinley Heights warehouse thousands of counterfeit designer purses worth $15 million to $20 million. Wu Tao, 24, a Chinese national living in New York City, and John Lastik, 59, of Greensburg, Pa., were arrested on trademark counterfeiting charges.
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jamesbresslerjr
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08-30-08 4:34 PM
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The almighty dollar.
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bruskii
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08-30-08 1:50 PM
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hey, how many bags you gotta sell to get a #300,000 home in Howland? More than a couple dozen, i reckon. hehe.
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bruskii
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08-30-08 1:44 PM
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THey stash dope in them bags?
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smokey
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08-30-08 12:56 PM
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i don't personally think the immagration thing is a minor issue compared to counterfeit purses and such, hello if she wasn't an immagraint maybe the purses wouldn't have been here.and besides alot of merchendise that is sold in stores are a knockoff i don't see wal-mart being arrestes, now if they was protrayed to be the real thing i could understand, besides hellllllllo if you pay $100.00-$200.00 for something that cost $2000.00-$3000.00 you deserve what you get common sense people common sense.
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VoiceOfReason
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08-30-08 12:52 PM
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It's a focus because it's illegal. A coach bag sells for $800. A counterfeit coach bag sells for anywhere from $30 - $200. The designer brand is diminished by the illegial counterfeit crap. Kudos for taking the criminals out, no matter what the crime. Especially since the china made imitation garbage is damaging the brand and taking more jobs away from the true craftsmen. What's next, take a cheap car to china and put a GM logo on it.
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neversummer
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08-30-08 12:41 PM
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Law enforcement is focusing on this because it is against Federal and State of Ohio law to engage in trademark counterfeiting. The value of the counterfeit merchandise is also determined by law and statute, and basically is the dollar amount the counterfeit goods are displacing from the real stuff. The immigration thing is really a minor issue in this matter, with all things considered.
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LeslieR
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08-30-08 10:14 AM
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Well but here's my question. Counterfeit bags probably cost about $1 each to produce. No one really sells counterfeit bags as the real thing - you might pay $150 for one at most. So how do they say the purses they seized in the McKinley Heights warehouse were worth "$15 to 20 million"? How the*****many of them were there? And are they basing the worth on what people would have paid for them? Even then, that's got to be a highly inflated figure. What I'm getting to is, aside from the illegal immigration aspect of this, why is law enforcement focusing on this "problem"??? NOTICE, REPEAT, I said,"aside from the illegal immigration issue."
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bruskii
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08-30-08 9:27 AM
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plus send em illegals back we got enuogh of owr own problems here dont need more.
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bruskii
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08-30-08 9:26 AM
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ya cant put your wallet in a counterfiet purse cuz it's gotta whole in it?
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smokey
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08-30-08 2:35 AM
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ok maybe am retarded i dunno, let me get striaght, she was taken to jail on a immigration detainer, immagriant,hmmmmm not legal correct?? but she OWNS A HOUSE IN HOWLAND!!! explain that one to me!!!
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