You may have bought knock off merchandise from a South Toms River, NJ business
There is a chance that you may have purchased or at the very least spotted a knockoff counterfeit version of a product with an established brand at a store in South Toms River.
As such, a South Toms River man who ran a business in the township has been arrested and charged for doing just that.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer and South Toms River Police Chief William Kosh made the joint announcement on Thursday.
The scheme being ran at the business on Dover Road came to an end this month with an investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Economic Crimes Squad, Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, and South Toms River Police.
Their probe uncovered that 47-year-old Rasheem Paige was "selling counterfeit goods purporting to be brands from Louis Vuitton, Versace, Nike, Polo, Gucci, North Face, Fendi, and Coach", at a Dover Road storefront business.
With this information in hand, Detectives next executed a court authorized search warrant on August 23 at the business and "seized over 600 counterfeit items, a pellet handgun, and a hyper speed folding knife."
For the massive amount of counterfeit goods plus the weapons found in the business, Paige was arrested on scene and later charged via summonses with Counterfeiting and two counts of Being a Certain Person Not to Possess a Weapon, according to Prosecutor Billhimer, "pending an upcoming first appearance in Ocean County Superior Court."
The multi agency investigation led to the arrest and charges.
"Prosecutor Billhimer and Chief Kosh commend the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, and South Toms River Police Department, for their combined and collective assistance in connection with this investigation."