The Dept. of Homeland Security, along with local law enforcement, raided a flea market this past weekend near Lawrence, Mass., arresting 40 people for selling counterfeit goods.
Since when is DHS suppose to be raiding flea markets? Aren’t they suppose to be tracking down terrorists? Oh wait, that’s what the Muslim Brotherhood organization considers Americans to be.
LAWRENCE — Police, joined by agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, arrested 40 people for selling counterfeit items at two flea markets yesterday.
“This is an effort to support local, legitimate businesses who have complained of these individuals selling bogus merchandise,” Interim Lawrence Police Chief James Fitzpatrick said of the sweep last night.
“Over the course of several months, we targeted individual selling counterfeit goods and counterfeit intellectual property. Our investigation culminated with the arrests of over 40 people involved in selling these illicit items,” he said. “In recent history, I believe this is probably the largest raid in Massachusetts involving counterfeit goods.”
The raids began at about 11 a.m. yesterday and lasted through late afternoon. The raids took place at Don Flea Market at 85 Manchester St., and Lawrence Flea Market and Auction House at 468 N. Canal St, near the Falls Bridge, according to Fitzpatrick. The Police Department used several vans, some of them loaned by the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, to transport the defendants to the Lawrence Police Department, where they were being booked last night.
Fitzpatrick said he believed that most of those charged were from out of town.
“The Department of Homeland Security was the lead with Lawrence Police Department,” said Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office.
“We were part of the investigation and we will prosecute,” she said.
Police referred all comments on the raid to federal authorities. Calls to the U.S. Attorney’s office and Homeland Security were not returned.
Fitzpatrick said federal agents planned to wait until tomorrow before issuing a press release about yesterday’s raids.
“There’s a great deal of evidence that needs to be cataloged,” Fitzpatrick said of the items seized. Some of the counterfeit items sold were fake lines of clothing, he said.
It started in the Nixon presidency Carter refined Reagan put the teeth in it.
Do a little research.
Of the following list of Agencies within the Department of Justice please explain which one you believe is responsible for protecting intellectual property rights?
An$#%&!@*rust Division
$#%&!@*et Forfeiture Program
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Bureau of Justice $#%&!@*istance
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Civil Division
Civil Rights Division
Community Oriented Policing Services – COPS
Community Relations Service
Criminal Division
Defending Childhood
Diversion Control Program (DEA)
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Elder Justice Initiative
Environment and Natural Resources Division
Executive Office for Immigration Review
Executive Office for Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces
Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys
Executive Office for U.S. Trustees
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
Foreign Claims Settlement Commission
INTERPOL Washington
Justice Management Division
National Commission on Forensic Science (NCFS)
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (OJP)
National Ins$#%&!@*ute of Corrections (FBOP)
National Ins$#%&!@*ute of Justice (OJP)
National Security Division (NSD)
Office for Access to Justice
Office for Victims of Crime
Office of Attorney Recruitment & Management
Office of Information Policy
Office of Justice Programs
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention – OJJDP (OJP)
Office of Legal Counsel
Office of Legal Policy
Office of Legislative Affairs
Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties
Office of Professional Responsibility
Office of Public Affairs
Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking
Office of Special Counsel
Office of the $#%&!@*ociate Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office of the Deputy Attorney General
Office of the Inspector General
Office of the Pardon Attorney
Office of the Solicitor General
Office of Tribal Justice
Office on Violence Against Women
Professional Responsibility Advisory Office
Project Safe Childhood
Tax Division
Tribal Justice and Safety
U.S. Attorneys
U.S. Marshals Service
U.S. Parole Commission
U.S. Trustee Program
http://www.justice.gov/agencies
And once you pick the one that you think should be the one taking care of this situation, I suggest you look that agency up so you can confirm what I am saying. It is our DHS that is in charge of protecting intellectual property rights. Not our Justice department. Go ahead…check it out.
Had this article been written properly you would understand what this is all about. The people they are arresting are criminals who purchase cheap knockoffs like pirated CD’s and Gucci handbags made in China and then sell them at flea markets. It is not fair to the people who owned the real rights to these goods and have to compete with the knockoffs. This has been going on for years. For some reason the writers of this article made it sound like something sinister.
The DHS has the resources that local,state agencies don’t have to track who is bringing in counterfeit merchandise that cost here in this country.
The US Customs Service under the Dept of Treasury (now Customs & Border Protection under DHS) has been tasked with seizing counterfeit good for YEARS. This is nothing new. Remember a few years ago when melamine was found in toothpaste, dog food and other edible items that were counterfeited in China? You don’t think they should be doing that?
That’s exactly what they should be doing, do a little research and you’ll find out what they’re really doing.
Department of Homeland Subjugation. I thought they were supposed to protect the country from terrorists.
Maybe instead they could, I dunno…arrest illegal aliens?
selling undo$#%&!@*ented barbie dolls is a crime