Four accused of selling bogus high-end goods at Kane Flea Market

Four accused of selling bogus high-end goods at Kane Flea Market
From Staff Reports May 3, 2011 09:40PM

ST. CHARLES — The suspects sold Prada — plus Coach, Gucci and other supposedly high-end merchandise at the Kane County Flea Market.

Except the stuff — thousands of items for sale at the flea market and also found at an Elgin-area storage facility — was all counterfeit, according to company and local police investigators.

Four people, including two from Elgin, were arrested Sunday on charges of violating the Counterfeit Trademark Act.

St. Charles police said in a press release issued Tuesday that investigators representing Tiffany and Co., Coach, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and Dooney & Bourke contacted their department Sunday after buying various counterfeit items at the flea market, held at the Kane County Fairgrounds on Randall Road.

Police went to the fairgrounds about 2 p.m. that day and found the four suspects at three separate booths. Numerous purses, bags, sunglasses and jewelry were on display with trademarked logos that were known to be counterfeit, according to the press release.

Police said they subsequently learned that additional counterfeit items were located in a storage facility in an unincorporated area east of Elgin. About 5,000 counterfeit items were seized as evidence from the three booths and the storage lockers, police said.

Charged with violating the trademark act were Armila Santarromana, 47, of the 300 block of Weymouth Avenue, Elgin; Roberto Santarromana, 49, of the 400 block of Fremont Street, Elgin; Ying Fu, 46, of Chicago; and Jin Yue Qu, 50, of Corona, N.Y.

It was determined that Qu was not in the country legally, police said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was contacted and requested a detainer be placed on him for possible deportation, police said.

Bail on the felony trademark violation charge was set Monday at $50,000 for each suspect. Fu and the Santarromanas each posted $5,000 bond and were released with pending court dates. Qu was still being held Tuesday at the Kane County Correctional Facility in St. Charles Township.