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.
not new..The SBI and local..have been raiding Flea Markets in NC since at least ’92.
This reporter/ author must have been asleep the past 25 YEARS +…not new..The SBI and local..have been raiding Flea Markets in NC since at least ’92…
good to know they saved us from f**e purses!!! would want them terrorizing our streets.
I was once set up at a flea market in Murphy, NC and the Feds came down on a kid who was working for someone else. He was just working the booth. The kid was a church goer and had never been in trouble in his life before that. All the venders pooled money, including myself, to post the bail money, and for legal representation. The putrid shitbag who owned the spot wasn’t prosecuted because he was from another country. Either China or Korea not sure.
Before Homeland Security.
Question to DHS… How low can you go ?
The gustopo is here,$#%&!@*Germany alive and well in America..
They have to do something, I guess.
Yes our knockoff clothes pose a real big threat at Flea Markets – You do realize DHS that not very many rich people shop at Flea Markets right? You know we poor really know what we are paying for.. We may be poor but we aren’t stupid. Way too much time on their hands since they are just sitting behind their computers looking at porn..
Tennessee Highway Patrol and Tn dept of safety and DHS are now one and the same entity. In essence Tn now has a federal police force. Can you say police state .