DERRY — In their continuing battle against counterfeit merchandise being sold at a local flea market, police have arrested three more vendors.
The vendors, two men and a woman from New York, each face charges of dealing in counterfeit goods after their arrests Saturday at Grandview Flea Market on Island Pond Road, according to Derry police Capt. Vern Thomas.
The three were charged with selling jewelry, shirts, handbags and other merchandise with false designer labels for popular brands such as Coach and Lacoste, Thomas said.
Arrested were Sen Ye, 32, of Flushing, N.Y., Xong Dai, 22, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Zhao Huang, 23, of Elmhurst, N.Y.
They were taken to the Derry police station and released later that day on personal recognizance bail. The trio is to appear in Derry District Court on Sept 28.
Ye was released on $2,000 personal recognizance bail while Dai and Huang were released on $1,000 personal recognizance bail, Thomas said.
Despite a stricter state law passed last year to crack down on illicit merchandise sales, Derry police continue to arrest vendors at the weekly flea market.
"There are a lot of people selling things there they shouldn't be," Thomas said. "It's all poor quality stuff and labeled like a designer, but it's not."
He said it's too early to determine if the tougher law has been a major deterrent, though there have been fewer vendors at the flea market than a year ago. Under the new law, a first offense is a misdemeanor, but subsequent convictions are felonies punishable by prison time. The Island Pond location has been the scene of numerous similar arrests in recent years, including 11 people who were charged in December when police seized more than 2,000 counterfeit purses, wallets and other items with a street value of nearly $60,000.
"We've raided that place at least five times," Thomas said.
Although federal authorities have participated in past arrests at the flea market, none were involved Saturday, he said.
The couple hundred items seized by police Saturday also included knockoff Tiffany necklaces, Gucci watches and Chanel handbags, to name a few, Thomas said.
Once police complete their inventory, they will seek court approval to have the merchandise destroyed, Thomas said. The items' street value has not been determined.
Flea market owner Martin Taylor of Salem has been sued by Coach in connection with a raid at the flea market in June 2009, when 13,278 counterfeit items were seized, including more than 7,500 items bearing phony Coach emblems.
Neither Taylor nor his attorney, Thomas Morgan, could be reached for comment yesterday.
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