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 QUEENS---A Jamaica, Queens, man, who allegedly believed that the counterfeit cartoon character costumes that he was selling would be used in adult films, has been arrested on trademark counterfeiting charges and dozens of fake costumes including Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, Barney and Scooby Doo have been seized from his Queens storage location.
Julio Quevedo, 43, of Jamaica, a native of Ecuador, has been arraigned on a charge of trademark counterfeiting in the second degree before Queens Criminal Court Judge Fernando Camacho who released the defendant on his own recognizance and set a return date of March 13. If convicted he faces up to four years in prison.
"A one-man counterfeiting operation like the one discovered here is capable each year of fleecing legitimate owners of trademark products out of tens of thousands of dollars, substantial sums in lost royalties", Queens district attorney Richard Brown said. "My office will continue to work with the television and movie industries to close down these illegal operations and prosecute those involved to the full extent of the law."
"There isn't a child around who doesn't watch the exploits of Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, Barney and Scooby Doo. To corrupt the image of these popular cartoon characters or have individuals of unknown backgrounds dressed in cheap-looking costumes in close proximity to young children is particularly troublesome", Brown said.
Brown said that Hit Entertainment, the licensed trademark holder for Barney, Bob the Builder and various other children's characters, contacted the District Attorney's Office several months ago when they discovered that the defendant Quevedo was selling counterfeit adult size costumes of children characters Barney and BJ, both of which are registered trademarks of Hit Entertainment.
The District Attorney said that based on information obtained during the investigation it is alleged that Quevedo believed he was selling the counterfeit costumes to an adult film producer who planned to use the costumes in films.
According to the criminal complaint, on Nov. 14, 2006, an investigator contacted the defendant by telephone and arranged for the purchase of a Bob the Builder costume for $250 at a pre-arranged location, unbeknownst to the defendant, in front of the District Attorney's Office. Later that day, an unapprehended woman, who identified herself as Millie, allegedly handed over a counterfeit Bob the Builder costume in exchange for $250 in cash. The entire transaction was allegedly observed by District Attorney detectives from a nearby location.
Brown said the complaint further alleged that after the sale, the private investigator established a ruse in which an undercover detective assigned to the District Attorney's Detective Bureau posed as the investigator's wife and sought the purchase of more costumes for roles in movies. On Feb. 24, Quevedo allegedly led the private investigator and the undercover to a U-Store Self Storage Facility at 138-54 94th Street where she was shown and offered for sale numerous costumes, specifically Barney, Thomas the Tank, Bob the Builder, Tasmanian Devil, Superman and Scooby Doo, among others. Representatives from Hit Entertainment and Warner Brothers were subsequently brought to the scene and verified that the costumes were counterfeit and of poor material and quality.
The District Attorney said that, at the time of his arrest, the defendant allegedly admitted that his family members have been selling these types of costumes for the past four years, and that for the past year his father-in-law was manufacturing them at a factory in Lima, Peru, and then shipping them to the United States. 2-27-07
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© 2007 North
Country Gazette
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