More than $40,000 worth of suspected counterfeit clothing and sneakers from Swagga was stuffed into black bags Tuesday and loaded into a crime scene van by members of the Shreveport-Caddo Financial Crimes Task Force.
Owner Billeco Brewster, 37, was burning bootleg DVDs when task force members walked into the small business in the 1700 block of Kings Highway in Shreveport, Caddo sheriff’s Detective Bobby Herring said. Brewster was issued an order to cease and desist selling counterfeit items, Herring said.
Timothy Allen, owner of Candi Shoppe II, stood outside his clothing store watching familiar-looking task force members file in and out of Swagga, on the opposite end of the strip shopping center.
In August, those task members were in Allen’s store seizing his merchandise. The task force busted eight small businesses that month, making for the second-largest Nike bust ever in the United States, Herring said.
Swagga’s business sign is emblazoned with logos advertising that it sells Chanel, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Ed Hardy, Gucci, Hello Kitty, Hi Hater, Louis Vuitton, Nike and Prada.
The black bags taken out of Swagga were filled with Ed Hardy shirts, pants and sweatsuits, Ralph Lauren Polo shirts, 115 pairs of Nike shoes and about 800 motion picture DVDs. The items were determined to be fakes by a single representative hired by the respective companies, Herring said.
“I don’t know of any store like this authorized to sell Nike shoes,” Herring said.
“Especially not $120 shoes for $30,” Shreveport police Cpl. Jeff Gilmour, a task force member, chimed in.
Allen said task force members came to his Candi Shoppe II as he was unloading a large order of Nike shoes while they were on the premises Tuesday. No items were taken.
“We straight,” Allen said of his store and its Nike, Baby Phat and Ralph Lauren Polo merchandise, which he said he now buys from a distributor who is licensed.
“That’s one of the problems we had last time – they believed they were selling good stuff,” Gilmour said. “Eventually, after you come back three and four times, they’ll get more than a slap on the wrist.”
The businesses’ compliance with cease-and-desist orders are taken into account but does not prevent them from being sued by the legitimate manufacturers or prosecuted, according to Gilmour. Even having merchandise that lacks a company’s logo but mimics its trademarked features, like the pattern on Coach purses, opens a company to be prosecuted on the federal offense of trademark infringement.
Of the eight stores busted in August, two still are selling counterfeit items and are among eight the task force intends to target next, Herring said. “If they’re going to sell counterfeit items, we’re going to continue investigating them.”