Undercover detectives surveilled Xiaolin Ma and Xiao Qu's flea market business for weeks before finding the trove of phoney merchandise.
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| Xiao Fang Qu, 44, and Xiaolin Ma, 47, are accused of running a mulit-million dollar counterfeit merchandise business out of a Pine Hills flea market, police said. (Orlando Police, Orlando Police / |
By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel
3:27 p.m. EST, January 6, 2012
An Orlando couple is accused of running a multi-million dollar counterfeit merchandise business that sold thousands of phony brand-name purses, wallets and other items out of a Pine Hills flea market, police said.
Xiaolin Ma and Xiao Fang Qu, both of Windermere, were arrested Thursday at their store, the Lucky Gifts shop, located at the run-down Magic Mall outlet in the 5100 block of West Colonial Drive.
They were charged with selling $20,000 or more of counterfeit goods and selling 1,000 or more counterfeit items, according to an Orlando police charging affidavit.
Detectives first came across the fake products when they confronted two merchants that were selling the fake purses and handbags in a strip mall parking lot on South Kirkman Road in early December, the report said.
The salespeople told investigators they had been buying the purses at $15 each from a woman named "Lilly" for four years and resold them for $40 on the street to supplement their income.
The informants said Lilly — later identified as Qu — and her husband "Mike" — later identified as Ma — sold the trademarked purses from the back room of a flea market building to people with whom they had relationships.
Orlando police detectives surveilled the flea market, and came across a locked cage, stacked with Reebok shoe boxes that were likely counterfeit, the report said.
They also monitored the flea market parking area — where they saw more gray bags in the hands of customers.
Detectives collaborated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who were familiar with the name "Lilly" after they intercepted a tractor trailer carrying counterfeit products on Interstate 4 that were destined for "Lilly's store," in 2008. But ICE agents never identified or located the woman.
Police obtained a search warrant and raided the business Thursday, finding several thousand counterfeit Gucci, Chanel, Dooney and Bourke, Coach and other high-end purses.
Detectives estimated the retail worth counterfeit items as between $6 and $8 million dollars, the investigative report stated.
Both Ma and Qu bonded out of the Orange County jail. They could not be reached for comment.
arehernandez@tribune.com or 407-420-5471
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