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LONG BRANCH — Tucked away in a mostly residential area is a large warehouse, 46 Fourth Ave., where what was advertised as designer clothing was on sale at a fraction of the usual price.
Customers had to know where to find Fashion Depot Group, though. There were no large signs. In fact, many people didn’t even know it was there. But then, its Web site indicated it was geared more toward wholesale operations.
The place did a brisk business, with truckloads of materials moving out and package shipments going around the country and sometimes out of it. In fact, its Web site even boast-ed a European distributor in London.
But if a customer tried to call on Tuesday, the phone would go unanswered. An answering machine promised a return call that never came.
If State Police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office have it right, those designer clothes that seemed like such a good deal were counterfeits.
The European distribution center was also illusory.
Fashion Depot Group’s president, Melvin Stanger, 66, of Long Branch, was arrested at the business Thursday and charged with second-degree trademark counterfeiting, said Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin. He could face as much as 10 years in prison, Valentin said.
His arrest capped a lengthy investigation by the State Police Cargo Theft Unit, said State Police Sgt. Jeanne Hengemuhle.
Troopers seized more than 14,000 items of counterfeit designer clothing valued at $1.2 million. The investigation is continuing, she said.
“It is one of the biggest counterfeit merchandise jobs we’ve had in 2007,” Hengemuhle said.
Thom Leon of Brand X Trading Ltd. in London is the man Stanger’s Web site listed as his European distributor.
Not true, Leon said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
“He told us he had a large client base in Eastern Europe and would appreciate it if we could take over his distribution there,” Leon said on Tuesday. “He promised us sales leads there, but in all honesty we never got any.”
Leon said Stanger led him to believe he headed a clothing business with extensive warehouses and large numbers of employees.
But Stanger’s operation is listed as a “single location, small business” with two employees by Dun & Bradstreet in a May 7, 2007, report.
The raided company’s owner is no stranger to trouble. In July, a pair of gunmen robbed his warehouse, tying up Stanger and another employee and making off with a truckload of the clothing.
Two suspects were caught by Neptune City police about 20 minutes later when a sharp-eyed traffic cop stopped them and recognized their connection to the robbery, police said at the time.
Later, one suspect was accused of planning to kill Stanger to keep him from testifying in the case.
Police regarded it as a straightforward robbery at the time. Nothing has changed their view, Long Branch Detective Lt. Robert V. Sama said.
Stanger was released after posting a bond of $250,000.
Guilty plea in 2003
The current charges are nothing new to him. On Nov. 17, 2003, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Trenton to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods or services and was given eight months in prison for selling counterfeit clothing to distributors, wholesalers and retailers, court records show.
At that time, the company was called Cathy and Me Fashions with an address in the Lincroft section of Middletown, according to records in Superior Court’s Civil Division in Freehold.
The counterfeiting of trademarked goods is a big business, said Matthew C. Schmidt, communications manager for the International Trademark Association in New York.
The crime Stanger is accused of is believed to cheat companies and consumers out of millions of dollars each year, Schmidt said.
In addition, the counterfeiting industry is estimated to have cost about 120,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. between 1988 and 1998, according to testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2002.
“Stanger’s fraudulent criminal activity caused serious repercussions for the unwitting consumer and the legitimate manufacturer,” Valentin said. “The distribution of counterfeit merchandise disrupts legitimate commerce.”
“The selling of counterfeit clothing may appear to be a victimless crime, but crimes such as this finance other criminal activities,” said Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, State Police superintendent. “This cooperative investigation and subsequent arrest disrupts the financial support that fuels criminal enterprises.”
Stanger could not be reached for comment.
Tags: 46 Fourth Ave., Fashion depot group, Mel stanger, Melvin stanger, the fashion depot, thefashiondepot.com, wholesale urban wear
