KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Deputies arrested a man and a woman for selling $444,441 worth of fake purses out of a trolley by a North Knoxville apartment clubhouse.
The Knox County Sheriff's Office said a deputy wearing plain clothes with its Organized Retail Crime Unit entered the trolley that was parked in the Evergreen at the Bluffs apartment complex and found counterfeit purses inside their shop.
The deputy said he was welcomed on board to the shop by John Martin Snyder, 56, and Teresa Sykes, 55, on Jan. 26.
The deputy said he found Louis Vuitton, Coach, Kate Spade, Gucci and several other fake brand name purses on the trolley.
The deputy said Snyder told him the items were knock-offs. At that point, the deputy identified himself as an officer and read the two their Miranda rights.
Officers seized the counterfeit items, cash and trolley used. After contacting a victim, authorities said that a member of his company was able to verify the items were indeed counterfeits.
Snyder told deputies he bought out a business in Sweetwater, Tennessee which had purses, and after the inventory was depleted and they saw it was easy to sell -- they purchased a trolley to conduct a mobile boutique, according to the arrest report.
Further investigation found that Sykes owned a brick and mortar business on Chapman Highway and a Facebook page listed under Diversified Liquidators.
Snyder appeared in Knox County Criminal Court on March 10. He was sentenced to six months in prison for using counterfeit logos.
