Counterfeit

Annapolis police released Tuesday a description and photos of a man they believe purchased beer at five bars and restaurants using counterfeit $100 bills on March 21. The man is described as black, bearded and in his late 50s to early 60s, police said. He is 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs more than 300 pounds, according to police. Five restaurants and bars in downtown Annapolis and the Eastport neighborhood reported that the man came in, bought a six-pack of beer -- usually Heineken -- and left with his change and the beer.

Baltimore County police seized $1.5 million worth of counterfeit merchandise after a raid at a Dundalk flea market last month, the department announced Wednesday. Charges are pending against 19 people who rent space in the market, not the flea market owners, police said. The vendors have not been identified. Officers raided the North Point Plaza Flea Market on Old North Point Boulevard on Feb. 16, taking more than 4,000 pairs of shoes and 3,500 phone accessories along with pirated movies and music and clothing items.

Police seized more than $15,000 in counterfeit money after chasing suspected drug dealers to a home in West Baltimore Thursday morning. Ten people were arrested and raw heroin was also seized in a bust that netted more than $22,000, including the counterfeit funds, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He declined to release the names of the suspects, saying that the U.S. Secret Service was involved and the investigation is continuing. At about 6:45 a.m., the Central District operations squad observed a gold Pontiac Grand Prix, which they believed to be involved in drug activity, in the 600 block of McCulloh St. and conducted brief surveillance.

As regulars perused handmade jewelry, discounted bedsheets, slightly-worn stuffed animals and other knick-knacks, dozens of Baltimore County police officers swarmed into a bustling Dundalk flea market Saturday morning to bust vendors allegedly selling counterfeit merchandise. What appeared to be fleece North Face jackets, UGG Boots, DVDs and CDs were seized by officers serving search warrants on 16 vendors at the Plaza Flea Market on Old North Point Boulevard. “They just came running in here and told people to put the stuff down.

A Bay Bridge maintenance worker was arrested yesterday by Maryland Transportation Authority Police detectives in an alleged counterfeiting and money-laundering scheme. Kennan F. Ray, 43, of the first block of Stonecroft Road in Baltimore was charged with counterfeiting and passing phony currency to tollbooth operators, according to District Court records. Police said he laundered phony $20 bills through toll operators to obtain valid U.S. currency. Detectives said Ray, who was assigned to sanitation duties at the bridge, approached at least five tollbooth workers with counterfeit cash in the past week, asking for change.

Westminster police are warning merchants to beware of counterfeit $20 bills being passed at area shopping centers.Nineteen counterfeit bills, which appear to be lighter green than a genuine $20 bill -- "as if they have gone through the wash" -- have been confiscated since Saturday, police said.The U.S. Secret Service has been notified, and police are seeking several young male suspects and at least one young female. The suspects, described as ages 18 to 23, approached sales clerks at Cranberry Mall businesses, Metro Food Market, Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers' Market and Ledo Pizza.

An 18-year-old Reisterstown man is in the Carroll County Detention Center, accused of selling counterfeit LSD to an undercover officer last month.Robert F. Haddigan of the 100 block of Caraway Road in Reisterstown was charged last week with distributing counterfeit LSD, possession with intent to distribute counterfeit LSD and fraud. He is being held on $25,000 bond.In court papers, Tfc. Robert Heuisler wrote that on Nov. 16 he met a man in the 1100 block of Liberty Road in Sykesville to purchase LSD.The man received $800 from Trooper Heuisler and said that he would call when he returned from Virginia with the drugs, according to the court papers.

Federal prosecutors said yesterday that they have issued an arrest warrant for a New York man wanted in connection with the counterfeiting ring that was broken up Wednesday night when the Secret Service arrested three men and seized counterfeiting equipment from an East Lombard Street warehouse.In addition, the authorities announced a fourth arrest in the case -- a 62-year-old Highlandtown woman who was charged with conspiracy to counterfeit U.S. currency.Estell W. Wienecke of the 200 block of South Highland Avenue was released on $50,000 bond after an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Paul M. Rosenberg.

When he paid a scalper $120 before Wednesday's Orioles game, Kevin Litz knew he had one of the hottest tickets in town. But he didn't know how hot until he got to the seat.That's when the usher in the upper deck handed the ticket back to Litz, explaining that he was about the 10th person that night to present a ticket for seat A-6 in Section 372. The real owner was sitting in A-6, enjoying the game.Litz had been had by a counterfeiter."He evidently was making a fortune," he said of the mysterious seller he encountered a few blocks from the ballpark.

MIAMI -- Some Christmas gifts are not what they appear to be. To demonstrate this, Lou Marcos, a Customs Service agent, hoisted what looked like a designer-signed scarf off the table and shook it, so the bold logo stood out from the swirl of colorful paisley patterns."

Federal agents in Baltimore seized 36 commercial websites on Monday as part of an international operation to stop fraudulent online sales this holiday season, alleging that the sites have been selling counterfeit goods — including athletic gear bearing the copyrighted logos of pro sports teams. Dubbed "Operation Cyber Monday 3," the international effort involved law enforcement agencies from across the United States and Europe, and seized a total of 101 website domains that allegedly sold counterfeit sports gear, jewelry, shoes, movies and other items copyrighted by brand-name companies.

Federal agents in Baltimore helped lead an operation that this week seized and shut down nearly 700 U.S.-based websites linked to the sale of counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs as part of an international effort to upend the global online drug trade. The local operation, known as Bitter Pill, was part of an international initiative led by Interpol that spanned 100 countries and confiscated 3.7 million doses of counterfeit medications worth an estimated $10.5 million, according to federal officials.

When a guest at a Linthicum hotel tried to pay his bill Tuesday with counterfeit money, the innkeeper called Anne Arundel County police. Officers arrived shortly before noon at the Red Roof Inn, in the 800 block of Elkridge Landing Road and located the suspect on the parking lot. The smell of marijuana led officers to search the vehicle. Diarra Scott, 37, of Mount De Sales Road in western Baltimore County, was charged with drug distribution and related charges. During the search of the suspect's car, officers located more than a pound of marijuana packaged for sale and distribution and seized it along with $2,448 in U.S. currency and $640 in counterfeit currency.

Last month's raid on the Patapsco Flea Market in Southwest Baltimore netted $47.3 million worth of counterfeit luxury goods, the largest seizure at a flea market in the United States, federal authorities announced Thursday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations also confiscated $1.5 million in cash, which it described as "suspected criminal proceeds. " Federal officials released new details of the April 22 raid on the bazaar, where authorities say vendors sold counterfeit and pirated goods with the market owner's knowledge.

Imean Shaheed was working last Sunday when federal agents rushed into the Patapsco Flea Market, announced over the loudspeaker that the bazaar was closed for business and shut down vendors selling knockoff Nikes, Louis Vuitton bags and Tiffany & Co. jewelry. "It was like the movies," the 20-year-old Shaheed said Saturday after the Cherry Hill flea market re-opened. Some booths were empty, but the parking lot was full and customers flocked to vendors such as Shaheed who were open for business.

I now fell much safer knowing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations authorities have captured the flea market gang that was threatening our country with phony merchandise ("Counterfeits long suspected at market," April 24). It seems to me that they could have deputized a Boy Scout troop led by a couple crossing guards to apprehend these desperadoes while homeland security folks were stopping the daily flood of illegal immigrants, including terrorists, from entering the country.

Counterfeit $100 and $20 bills have circulated in the Mount Airy area recently, according to a warning issued by Maryland State Police at Westminster. At least two phony $100 bills have been used, the most recent yesterday, said police, who are working with the Secret Service. Other suspected counterfeit bills reportedly have been rejected by businesses, including the bogus $20. Police have a counterfeit $100 bill, which they said appears to have been printed on a color-copying machine.

April 26 is "World Intellectual Property Day," a day designated to increase public awareness about how intellectual property rights promote innovation and creativity. The federal government is working to prevent counterfeiting and piracy, but the government needs help from vigilant citizens who understand why intellectual property rights matter. In order to promote economic, scientific and creative progress, the Constitution expressly empowers Congress to give authors and innovators the exclusive right to profit from their writings and discoveries.

A federal grand jury indicted five men on charges they allegedly sold counterfeit goods of high-end designers such as Michael Kors, Coach and Jimmy Choo around Baltimore, including at the Patapsco Flea Market, where authorities conducted a weekend raid in a similar but separate investigation. Charged were Tidiane Ba, 44; Mamadou Lamine Ba, 51; Abass Baro, 44; Sakho Oumar, 33; and Baba Toure, 39, all of Baltimore, according to the indictment unsealed Wednesday. Toure was being sought by law enforcement officials; the others were arrested on Sunday and released Monday under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services.