Arrests have been made, and some places in Winnsboro are still under investigation for selling what police are terming counterfeit goods.

Starting last week, Winnsboro Department of Public Safety Chief Wayne Yates pulled the business licenses of Vickie’s Hype Hair salon and the clothing store TP860 while they investigated allegations that both places may have been selling counterfeit items.

“The business licenses have been returned,” Chief Yates said late Friday.

In concert with the Secretary of State’s office, the WDPS continued their investigation. Last week, they confiscated items from Vickie’s Hype Hair, TP860 and Pyramid Music, according to incident reports.

Merchandise confiscated from TP860 totaled $20,155; from Vickie’s, the total value of the merchandise confiscated was $18,400. The owner of Pyramid Music was out of town during the investigation and the store was closed, so the WDPS obtained a search warrant and entered the premises, confiscating merchandise in the amount of $37,070.

Arrested and charged with sale of goods or services with counterfeit mark were Melvin Danell Henry of Winnsboro, owner of TP860 and Abdullah Roaf Furquan, of Winnsboro, owner of Pyramid Music.

According to the statute, a “counterfeit mark” means a ‘mark that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from, a registered mark or unregistered mark...likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception if used...and not authorized by the owner of the registered or unregistered mark.’

“When you start figuring up the amount of the merchandise, that's what you have to apply the law on, you go by retail price of the original label. There were Red Monkey pants (at TP860) for $50 a pair. The original logo, original Red Monkey pant sells for $750 a pair,” said Chief Yates.

“All in all, over $75,000 worth of merchandise was confiscated. With that level, you get into a felony, and the minimum fine on this charge is $10,000. This is a new law.”

This is the first time police have been able to use this new law, Chief Yates said.

Clothing, pocketbooks, shoes, sunglasses, jewelry and DVDs were seized during the investigation.

The investigation will continue, Chief Yates said.

“We will be in and out of stores within the town limits of Winnsboro. We have been trained by the state; the experts came in on this, and have trained us on what to look for,” he said.

The law allows law enforcement a wide latitude when it comes to confiscating the counterfeit goods, Chief Yates pointed out.

“If a person is selling counterfeit DVDs out of the back of a vehicle, the vehicle can be confiscated. This is a new law, this law has a lot of teeth in it.”

He added that it’s not only the sellers of counterfeit goods that can be prosecuted; so can people who buy those goods.

“People need to be aware if they are selling or buying what we call burnt CDs, or counterfeit CDs, music and or movies, that anything around can be confiscated according to the seizure law,” he said.