Hazlehurst man gets 5 years for selling fake goods out of his car

From The Mississippi Link Newswire

JACKSON – A Hazlehurst man is going to prison for selling counterfeit purses and other goods out of his car, Attorney General Jim Hood said.

Christopher Williams, 25, of Hazlehurst, was sentenced by Judge Lamar Pickard in Copiah County Circuit Court on one felony count of vending goods bearing a counterfeit trademark or label. Williams pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, a fine of $1,000, another $1,000 to cover costs of the investigation, plus court costs.

The investigation was handled by investigators with the Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division, working on information obtained from the Hazlehurst Police Department (a member of the Attorney General’s Operation Knock Out Knock Offs Task Force).

An undercover investigation caught Williams selling counterfeit purses and other bogus merchandise on Whitworth Street in downtown Hazlehurst.

Williams was operating out of his car with a table set up beside the car in a parking lot. Investigators bought two purses, a fake Burberry and a fake Gucci, with a combined retail value, if not counterfeit, of over $2,000. Certified counterfeit inspectors examined the goods and determined that they were indeed fakes.

As part of the sentencing hearing, Judge Pickard ordered the destruction of the counterfeit items.

“This type of activity is going on across Mississippi and our intent is to stop it,” said Attorney General Hood. “Let this case serve as a warning that there is a higher price to pay for selling counterfeit goods in our state.”