Fresno Police spent more than five hours boxing up two floors worth of counterfeit goods. Investigators put the value of the bust in the hundreds of thousands.
It happened at Jazzy Jeans located on Fresno and "E" Street in Downtown Fresno. Now the store's owner is facing felony charges. And investigators say his operation may have links to criminal activity in the Middle East.
Nike Air Jordan shoes ... Lacoste pullover shirts ... True Religion jeans ... Ed Hardy shirts ... and Louis Vitton purses ... all for sale in Downtown Fresno at the Jazzy Jeans store on Fresno Street. The problem is ... none of these items is the real deal ... but they're being sold as if they are.
Sgt. Ron Grimm said, "These folks are getting knock-off items at a drastically discounted price and selling them to people whether or not they know they're counterfeit or legitimate we don't know for sure."
The Homeland Security Bureau of the Fresno Police Department arrested the store's owner early Tuesday evening after a yearlong investigation.
Last year the man who owns Jazzy Jeans was told to stop selling the fake merchandise under the pretense of designer label clothing. He did not ... and after several undercover buys ... police moved in.
Authorities are not only concerned about customers being ripped off ... they say the small store is part of something much larger.
Sgt. Ron Grimm explained, "This money is being funneled to other criminal enterprises ... it's being funneled out of the country ... some of the money we suspect is being funneled to other countries in the Middle East ."
Fresno Police plan to track Jazzy Jeans' banking records to find out the exact flow of money from the store. Police have not yet released the identity of the store owner.
