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By Scott Daugherty The Virginian-Pilot May 19, 2012 CHESAPEAKE The embroidery on some of the jerseys wasn't crisp, the privateinvestigator testified. And some of them were missing serial numbers. And there were the prices: 50 to 75 percent off. The owner of two Chesapeake sporting goods stores and formerproprietor of a Norfolk flea market stand was convicted by a judgeon Friday of one count of felony trademark infringement. KeithCarter, who opened his first brick-and-mortar Players Sports Nutsstore three years ago, is to be sentenced Aug. 31 in ChesapeakeCircuit Court. "If anyone could tell (these jerseys were fake), I would thinkthe owner of three separate stores... would be able to tell,"Judge Marjorie T. Arrington said in dismissing Carter's defensethat he thought he'd been buying authentic jerseys that had beenmarked down for quick sale. "Of course, you should know," Arrington said. According to court testimony, police searched Carter's two storeson Western Branch Boulevard and North Battlefield Boulevard on May10, 2011, and seized more than 1,200 NFL, NBA, NHL and Major LeagueBaseball jerseys. If authentic, the retail prices of just the football jerseys wouldhave topped $149,000, said Robert Hartnett, a private investigatorhired by several of the major sports leagues to protect theirtrademarks. When police entered the store, they found jerseys that wouldnormally sell for $125 to $175 on sale for $50, Hartnett said.High-end throwback jerseys were going for $75, not the normal $300. Sifting through about a dozen of the seized jerseys, Hartnettshowed the judge how the stitching was poorly done, the embroiderystill had its paper backing and how some coloring was wrong. Healso pointed out that some jerseys lacked holograms, while othershad cheap ones with no serial numbers. "This is not in the condition I would expect from a $175jersey," said Hartnett, holding a counterfeit Ravens jerseywith the name Anquan Boldin. Carter testified he didn't know the jerseys were counterfeit. Hesaid he ordered them online from wholesalers and didn't question itwhen some arrived with the players' names upside down. "The stuff is mass-produced. I'm sure there are going to beerrors," he said. Carter said he knew other stores charged more for their jerseys,but he considered their prices "ridiculous, as far as I wasconcerned." He said he thought he was able to undercut their prices by so muchbecause he had less overhead, did most of the sales work himselfand wasn't interested in making as much of a profit. Defense attorney James Broccoletti noted that one of the detectivesinvolved in the case couldn't tell some of the fake jerseys fromthe real ones. "It takes a laser reader to determine if some of thoseholograms are real. It takes a magnifying glass," he said. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Derek Wagner countered that thedefendant "should have known these were not genuine." "He was trying to make a fast buck, and he got caught,"Wagner said. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Bottle Dispenser Pump , Disposable Wet Wipes, and more. For more , please visit Cream Dispenser Pump today!
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