PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted a North Dakota man accused of participating in a scheme to manufacture counterfeit clothing overseas that was then sold to the U.S. military and other buyers, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Terry Roe, 50, worked with two other men to have parkas and other items produced in China and Pakistan that carried fake labels identical to genuine U.S. trademarks, the U.S. attorney’s office in Rhode Island said.
Many of the fake garments claimed to be weather-resistant and have other qualities that they did not, prosecutors said. The scheme involved more than $20 million worth of counterfeit goods that were sold to military and government buyers.
Sixty counterfeit Polartec fleece shirts were shipped to a business in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in August 2018 and counterfeit parkas and trousers were shipped to the Rhode Island National Guard in East Greenwich on October 2018, prosecutors said.
Roe, of Burlington, North Dakota, worked as the operations manager at a company that sells clothing and others items to the military, police and other government purchasers. The indictment returned by the grand jury charges him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and traffic in counterfeit goods, mail fraud and trafficking in counterfeit goods.
A message left with Roe’s attorney was not immediately returned on Thursday.
Two men have already pleaded guilty in connection to the scheme. New York City businessman Bernard Klein, 39, and New Jersey wholesaler Ramin Kohanbash, 50, are currently awaiting sentencing.
