Ocmulgee Drug Task Force counterfeit raid nets two Milledgeville store owners

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Ocmulgee Drug Task Force is now sorting through more than $20,000 worth of counterfeit items investigators confiscated during raids on Wednesday.

Two Milledgeville store owners were arrested and charged with multiple counts of possession of counterfeit goods.

The task force conducted simultaneous raids at Under the Sun Clothing Store located at 1300 North Columbia and Stunt City located at 100 West Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to the task force’s commander Wesley Nunn.

Vice President of Brand Services Tim Forman, find businesses who are selling counterfeit name-brand goods. Forman works closely with law enforcement officers.

“They typically know that what they’re selling is not legitimate or authentic goods,” said Forman. “When you’re talking about apparel or footwear it just doesn’t hold up the quality is not even remotely the same.”

The owner of “Under the Sun Clothing” store, Willie Scott Jr. and the owner of Stunt City, Sherrod Roberson, were arrested. Roberson and Scott are charged with multiple counts of possession of counterfeit goods and they could face more charges.

“If it’s too good to be true regarding price or the deal it typically is [counterfeit],” explained Forman. “It is an on-going battle and the seize numbers go up every year so do the quantities produced.”

Undercover agents seized more than $10,000 in fake goods from each store, which included purses, shirts, and shoes.

“This is one of the shoes that is a limited edition product. You can’t buy this shoe for $350 or less,” said Nunn.

Hundreds of fake tennis shoes were in the “Under the Sun Clothing” rear stock room. There were a pair of fake exclusive tennis shoes Scott was allegedly selling for $74, said Nunn. The authentic name brand shoes normally sells for nearly $350.

“When you’re selling this for half price or below half price and it’s not up to standards of that product,” said Nunn. “It hurts the general public and it’s not fair.”

“You might be thinking to yourself, I can go support my local economy and pay a third of the price,” explained Forman.”You may believe that you are supporting local economy but you’re not .”

Selling counterfeit brand name items is a $650 billion dollar industry, according to Forman. Some of that money is used to fund criminal enterprises.

“The money used from the gains of the sales of these counterfeit goods are used in, drug trafficking, guns other narcotics as well as other illegal activity,” he added.