Flea Market

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.

Sunday, May 27 Honoring America's finest Mission BBQ, 7748 Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, will host forty veterans of World War II to honor their service and in observance of Memorial Day. For more information, call 410-773-9888. Thursday, May 31 Rotary Club The Annapolis Rotary Club meets at noon at the Annapolis Yacht Club, 2 Compromise St. Michael Wallace, will speak on nuclear energy and national security. Information: 410-956-7672. Friday, June 1 Open house Anne Arundel Community College offers a free open house for a preview of its 15 fall Peer Learning Partnership courses beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Room 100 of the Center for Applied Learning and Technology on the Arnold campus, 101 College Parkway.

Holy Trinity Worship Center Men's Group will sponsor a flea market Saturday, June 25, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Holy Trinity Worship Center, 3511 Tejon Drive (off Brock Bridge Road). Registration fee is $15 for a table or space, and is due immediately. Contact Trustee Alonzo Glover, 240-694-5153, alonzoglover@gmail.com or Sister Tonjia Glover, 240-370-823, tonjiaglover@yahoo.com .

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.

A man posing as a city police officer was arrested Saturday afternoon at a South Baltimore flea market, police said. A sheriff's deputy was attending the flea market in the 1400 block of W. Patapsco Ave. in Brooklyn at about 4 p.m. when he noticed a man walking around in a Baltimore "special police" T-shirt, with a silver badge and a silver handgun on his hip, said Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman. Guglielmi said the sheriff's deputy confronted the man, who was not able to produce any documentation of being a police officer, and the deputy called police.

If you want to buy a chicken, you can get one at the U.S. 1 Flea Market this weekend. Not the skinned, boned and shrink-wrapped kind but the real cluck, in three colors, no less. Of course the handcrafted lizard boots dyed the colors of red clay and scorching yellow would put any hen to shame, despite her colorful plumage. Those who pass by the buzzing indoor/outdoor market on weekends don't know what they're missing. Like boots from El Reparo Western Wear. For 16 years, this little shop in the southwest indoor corner of the market has outfitted shoppers with colorful, stylishly studded boots for men, women and children, as well as men's jackets, belts and Western hats.

Cub Scout Pack 662, sponsored by BBM Delivery & Services Inc. of Severn, will have a flea market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18, on the grounds of Ridgeway Elementary School, Route 170 and EvergreenRoad.The market will offer a wide variety of "recycled treasures" such as clothing for children and adults, books, appliances, tools,furnishings, and other household items. Cookies, cakes, pies, brownies and other treats will be available.Flowers and other ornamental plants will be for sale.

The Arundel Village Security Patrol will hold a Community Flea Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Polish Home Hall at Fairhaven Avenue and Filbert Street in Curtis Bay.The doors open to vendors at 8: 30 a.m. to set up.The patrol will accept donations to be used as prizes at the game wheel table. Donors may leave items at the headquarters at 602 Church St., call to have them picked up or drop them off at the flea market.The cost for vendors is $8 a table, two tables for $15 or three tables for $20.The proceeds will be used to help pay patrol expenses.

For five years, vagrants and vandals occupied the largest vacant space in the Ritchie Highway Shopping Center. But tomorrow a 30,000-square-foot flea market will open, marking another effort to revitalize the 40-year-old strip mall.Four local entrepreneurs hope to turn the former dilapidated space with graffiti-covered walls and broken windows into a bargain-hunter's dream. Vendors have rented nearly all the 230 tables and 25 booths for this weekend's grand opening."We want people to come in here and find good bargains," said Joel Freeman, 40, one of the investors in the Ritchie Highway Flea Market.

It seemed like a deal that would benefit everyone.After the long-running Edmondson Drive-In flea market ended, a promoter approached Baltimore City to have a similar weekend event held at the now-vacant Memorial Stadium.He consulted neighborhood groups and won their support for the idea. For 16 weekends this spring and summer a market was held on a parking lot along 33rd Street. It drew thousands of shoppers, up to 300 vendors and reportedly netted $2,000 a week to the cash-starved city.Last week, the popular flea market was suddenly canceled.

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.

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.

Vendors at the Patapsco Flea Market have a history of allegedly selling counterfeit and pirated merchandise, according to an affidavit, which outlined the latest accusation that resulted in a raid Sunday by federal Homeland Security Investigations special agents. Capping a 2 1/2-year-long investigation into counterfeit apparel and accessories as well as pirated DVDs and musical recordings, federal investigators confiscated numerous items being sold there. Federal authorities released few details about the raid, but the affidavit details several undercover operations that found that many of the items sold at the flea market were fake.

Undercover federal agents rented a booth at Patapsco Flea Market to gain access to its management as part of a 2 1/2 -year sting targeting merchants selling counterfeit and pirated goods - an investigation that resulted in a raid Sunday on the Southwest Baltimore marketplace, according to a search warrant and affidavit released Monday. Capping the intensive investigation into fake brand-name clothes and accessories, as well as pirated DVDs and musical recordings, special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations confiscated numerous items being sold at the sprawling market.

Flea market An outdoor spring flea market will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 28, at the Gary J. Arthur Community Center, 2400 Route 97 in Cooksville. Information: 410-313-4840 or 410-313-4843. Glenwood Senior Center Glenwood Senior Center, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville, offers the following events. Information: 410-313-5440: Sittercize The hourlong exercise program includes seated aerobics, stretching and strengthening drills, 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Hanukkah party Sponsored by the Jewish Federation and Office of Aging, the party takes place 10:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Dec. 13, at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way in Columbia. Music by vocalist Robyn Helzner. Reservations required by Thursday, Dec. 8. Email sophie@JewishHowardCounty.org or call, 410-730-4976, ext. 103. Bazaar/flea market The county NAACP Youth Council will sponsor a "Holiday Bazaar/Flea Market" from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Ridgelys Run Community Center, 8400 Mission Road in Jessup.

All the commotion around Section 34 these days is being directed at hamster cages, rusty Kennedy-Johnson campaign buttons and boxes of Cap'n Crunch.For a little over a month now, Memorial Stadium's eastern parking lot has been converted into a sprawling Sunday flea market. From Archie comic books to Zorro lunch boxes, the discarded output of American manufacturing is piled high and far, usually tagged at less than $5."The name Memorial Stadium draws. We don't have to give directions. It's grown faster than any other brand new flea market," says Jay Harris, a professional flea market organizer who worked out an arrangement with the city to rent the asphalt based on a split of the take.

It's that time of year when many people are getting ready to do their annual spring cleaning. What do you do with all that clutter that you are finally tossing out? Why not heed that old saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure?" North County High School's PTSA will sponsor its annual indoor Spring Flea Market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 5 at the school, 10 E. 1st Ave.Tables are available for $15. Call 761-3935 to reserve a space.Students are winnersNorth County High School News: Congratulations to Art Martin and the North County marketing education students who set a county record with 28 winners in 19 contests at the Marketing Leadership Conference at Anne Arundel Community College last month.