Alaska News

Feds seek $130,000 for counterfeit sunglasses seized in Anchorage

U.S. Customs officials are seeking more than $130,000 in trademark violation fines after seizing 1,128 pairs of fake Oakley and Coach brand sunglasses in Anchorage, court records show.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Anchorage, prosecutors say two China-based businesses tried to ship the sunglasses to New York through the Fed Ex cargo hub at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Customs officials seized the goods July 2010 in Alaska.

Prosecutors are asking for Louis and Theresa Colabella of Islandia, New York, who did business as Postal Connections, to pay penalties equal to the full retail price of 564 pairs of Oakley glasses and 564 pairs of Coach glasses. The couple had planned to receive the counterfeit shades from Shanghai.

By KYLE HOPKINS

khopkins@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He was the lead reporter on the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lawless" project and is part of an ongoing collaboration between the ADN and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. He joined the ADN in 2004 and was also an editor and investigative reporter at KTUU-TV. Email khopkins@adn.com

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