GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Nearly $2 million in counterfeit designer goods from two separate investigations have led to charges against two Gwinnett County families, police say.
The charges come from two unrelated investigations.
In the first, Gwinnett County police say a citizen complaint led the vice unit to a Lawrenceville home on May 13.
Investigators say a mother and daughter, Quentessa and Tameka Gordon, were selling counterfeit goods online and in person.
Police say they seized more than $900,000 in alleged fakes, plus marijuana and a gun. Both women face felony counterfeiting charges.
“Sometimes people try to sell them on certain websites and present them as actual legitimate items,” said Cpl. Angela Carter of the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Investigators say seized counterfeits are sent to a third party that calculates the loss to the real brands.
The second case began weeks earlier in Norcross. Police say two brothers, Edwin and Ellis Duncan, kept more than 150 counterfeit Coach bags in a home full of drugs and a loaded gun, according to Norcross police.
Their mother, Yong Brown, was arrested days later in April. Edwin and Brown face counterfeiting charges. Ellis faces drug and gun counts.
Joel Levinson has spent his career telling real designer goods from fakes at Dynasty Jewelry and Loan in Norcross. He has watched the fakes change.
“Now they’re getting better, so it’s becoming more challenging,” Levinson said. “When there’s a huge market for something, there’s a huge market for fakes as well.”
Levinson says he sees the fallout in his own shop, where customers arrive with bags they were sure were real.
“We have to be the ones to unfortunately let them know that it’s not authentic,” he said.
At Dynasty, every item is authenticated before it goes up for sale, and he says many buyers who shop online are not so lucky.
“Generally, when you’re purchasing online, it’s really important to make sure you’re buying from a reputable dealer,” Levinson said.
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