$19 Million in Fake Designer Sunglasses Confiscated

In the land where some people’s designer sunglasses cost more than their shoes, El Monte police and U.S. Customs agents announced Thursday that they’ve made one of the state’s largest busts involving counterfeit eye wear--seizing $19 million worth of fake brand-name sunglasses and labeling equipment.

El Monte Police Chief Wayne C. Clayton said officers confiscated more than 320 cartons of counterfeit sunglasses and eye wear parts in raids Monday and Tuesday at the Yu Sheng Spectacles Industrial Co. in El Monte, as well as at a home in an unincorporated area near Arcadia and a Rosemead mini-warehouse.

The fake sunglasses bore designer names of Oakley, Versace, Tommy (Hilfiger) and DKNY. Agents also seized machines designed to emboss trademarks on sunglasses, Clayton said.

Four people--including a husband and wife who own the Yu Sheng firm--were arrested on suspicion of trademark infringement, he said. If they are charged and convicted, they could face a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The amount of all counterfeit merchandise seized at the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports has spiraled this year, surpassing the estimated value of $79 million in 1998, said U.S. Customs Assistant Special Agent in Charge Marc Gwaltney.

Among the most frequent finds, said Gwaltney, are the designer sunglasses favored by many Southern Californians.

“Counterfeit sunglasses have become an increasing problem in the last three years,” Gwaltney said. “With sunglasses, it’s a safety issue. These counterfeits are dangerous. They shatter easily.”

This week’s raids stem from a discovery earlier in the month at the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports, where customs inspectors for months have been monitoring container shipments from Taiwan for Yu Sheng, the El Monte optical firm, authorities said.

Gwaltney said one container raised suspicions, and inspectors found boxes of phony Oakley sunglass parts hidden behind cartons of non-brand eye wear.

Investigators allowed the company to accept delivery of the shipment, however, and then raided its warehouse-like office in an industrial complex on Telstar Avenue.

Owners Yoa Tsai, 39, and his wife Kitty Lau, 40, were arrested Monday and released on $100,000 bail each. Warehouse manager Bin Zheng, 35, of Alhambra, and employee Yu Ho, 41, were also arrested and released. Tsai and Ho, police said, identified themselves as Taiwanese nationals.

El Monte Police Det. Tom Hunt said investigators can show that the four people arrested knew they were receiving counterfeit glasses, and that the Taiwanese supplier has been involved in similar cases. He said it hasn’t been determined whether the four will be charged in federal or state court.

Yu Sheng’s office was closed Thursday and there was a note on the door from the landlord demanding rent. Opposite the dark office was a fenced enclosure with hundreds of cartons of sunglasses.

Police say they believe Yu Sheng, like other alleged counterfeiters, targeted the sporty designs of Orange County-based Oakley Inc. Last year, authorities confiscated 1.1 million pairs of phony Oakleys, which typically sell on the street for $10 to $20 a pair. The real article goes for more than $65.

The counterfeits do not block harmful ultraviolet light and don’t meet safety standards like the eye wear made in Orange County, said Donna Sandidge, Oakley’s manager of intellectual property.

Sandidge said she oversees a vast network of investigators that target counterfeiters of the company’s glasses from China to South Africa. “We average one arrest per day of counterfeit product,” she said.