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Posted on 02/03/2008 12:16:43 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
A Bear Paw man was arrested on Jan. 25 and $275,000 worth of counterfeit items were seized in an investigation connected to Chinese nationals bringing in goods from China, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Investigator Roger Williams said.
Robert Barry Franks, 60, was arrested on indictments issued by the January Cherokee County Grand Jury.
Investigators became aware of Franks in May 2006 while investigating a complaint made concerning an individual selling counterfeit items such as sunglasses, purses and hats with counterfeit brand names at a flea market in Ranger, Williams said. Following up on this information, more than $225,000 in counterfeit goods were seized at Franks' Bear Paw residence and $50,000 in counterfeit goods were taken from a vehicle and a storage shed owned by Franks.
Williams said Franks was selling throughout Cherokee County, taking orders and delivering counterfeit goods. He also was allegedly selling the illegal items on e-Bay. He also reportedly accepted an order for an engine over e-Bay, took the money but didn't deliver the product.
One item Franks sold was sunglasses with the Oakley brand name. The sunglasses were imported from China for pennies on the dollar, Williams said. A brand name almost identical to the Oakley brand was placed on the sunglasses.
"These sunglasses fall apart after awhile," Williams said.
Another item being sold was gauge wire, which isn't as thick as underwriters require. This could result in a home burning down, Williams said. Purses with bogus Louis Vuitton brands also were sold.
Information provided by Franks led to his connection with Chinese nationals who were living in New York state and importing the counterfeit goods from mainland China to be sold in the United States, Williams said.
"This information was instrumental not only leading to the arrest of several Chinese nationals and the confiscation of over $55.5 million in counterfeit goods, but it also resulted in the seizure of several homes and bank accounts that belonged to the Chinese nationals, all of which had been funded with the proceeds of the illegal sale of the counterfeit goods," Williams said.
Additional information has identified Franks' involvement in illegal arms transactions, Williams said. He said that money derived from counterfeit goods has been used to fund terrorists. The bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 was funded by the illegal sale of T-shirts.
Franks was charged with counterfeit trademark and obtaining property by false pretenses. He was released from jail Friday on a $7,000 unsecured bond.
The charges stemmed from a joint investigation led by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, the N.C. Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
The investigation is continuing and may involve more people.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in 2002 that counterfeit goods brought into this country in one year cost American businesses an estimated $200 billion in revenue and the loss of around 750,000 jobs. Customs counterfeit-related seizures rose 125 percent between 2000 and 2005, and with new enforcement tools they rose 80 percent in the 2006 fiscal year. Since the early 1990s, counterfeit trade is estimated to have grown eight times faster than legitimate trade.
just askin'
They have real communism.
Looky here. China badboys. Not good news.
Kind of like the solid gold “ROLEF” watch I had. Looked cool, and ran for a while. Since I paid $10 for it instead of $10,000, I didn’t get burned too bad.
Any idea where Cherokee county is located? Texas? Oklahoma?
Hmmm. North Carolina. I had Oklahoma on my mind and especially the Mingo and Admiral Circle in Tulsa.
Underguage residential electrical wiring?
Throw the bastard in prison; or at least make him work in a children’s burn ward.
i’ll stick with my timef watch. it’s much more reliable than my rolef. :)
I must say that when I saw the title I was quite curious about the Bear Paw Man. Questions went through my mind: Is it a birth defect? Is he related to the Manbearpig?
If they are going to start cracking down on counterfeit goods (sunglasses, fashion, purses, DVD’s, etc.) they had better start looking in every flea market in the US... because I have yet to be in one in the last 10 years that didn’t have tons of counterfeit purses, movies, and such.
And there are traveling folks who set up on street corners and parking lots on the weekends with cases of fake Nike, Reebok, Fila, etc. shoes and shirts - I have never seen police even look twice at them (even though 99.9999999995% have no business license and don’t pay the sales taxes).
Sound like a guy you wouldn't want to cross. The Bear Paw Man.
No relation.
Is Bear Paw Man related to ManBearPig?
By coincidence, I was looking at a South Carolina state web page and the Palmetto state has indeed been doing that --- in fact, it appeared to be about the only statewide law enforcement activity listed on that particular webpage for the several months that I saw press releases.
I am still wondering what put such a bee in their bonnet, and now apparently also North Carolina's from looking at this current article.
It’s the next village after Mouse Breath.
Underguage residential electrical wiring?
Throw the bastard in prison; or at least make him work in a children’s burn ward.
It was a satellite wire. We do not get cable here, another lie by Roger Williams/cop who wrote the article. Get all the facts before you run your month. That we never got back. Roger Willian stole anything he could get his hands on with another offices watching. The FBI told us to move, that there are bad cops and nothing we can do.
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