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Bearded Wonder
Fort Lauderdale shop manager, store owner charged with selling expensive counterfeit cigars
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Browardnews@MiamiHerald.com
A Fort Lauderdale cigar shop manager and a store owner have been arrested for selling counterfeit stogies.
Investigators with the Broward Sheriff's Office Economic Crime Unit said that on Tuesday, they arrested Carolina Cigar Company manager Allen Boyd, 47, and 63-year-old Smoke Café owner James David Joiner, both of Fort Lauderdale.
Boyd, of the 3300 block of Northeast 33rd Street, and Joiner, of the 3000 block of North Ocean Drive, are charged with one count each of vending goods with counterfeit trademarks, investigators said.
According to BSO detectives, agents representing Altadis USA Inc., the corporate owners of such trademarked cigars as Monte-Cristo, Romeo y Julieta and H. Upmann Monarch, recently approached them regarding the possible sale of counterfeit versions of these at both businesses.
Investigators made three undercover purchases at each shop between Jan. 13th and Feb. 3rd. Each time, while in the company of Altadis agents, detectives purchased a couple of suspect cigar boxes valued at $250.00 each.
Since the buys were made in cash, shop vendors illegally waived taxes on each purchase, deputies said. The bogus stogies were then examined at Altadis headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and determined to be counterfeit, officials said.
BSO executed arrest and search warrants at Carolina Cigar Company, 3313 NE 33rd St., and at Fort Lauderdale Smoke Café, 3337 Oakland Park Blvd. on Tuesday.
Boyd and Joiner were both taken into custody and some 40 to 45 suspect cigar boxes were confiscated at each location, deputies said. It's believed that the counterfeit cigars were illegally packaged at the rear of each business and at a separate location in Miami-Dade County.
The total value of the confiscated bogus goods is estimated to be between $20,000 and $25,000, deputies said.
Boyd and Joiner are free on $500 bond each.
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Browardnews@MiamiHerald.com
A Fort Lauderdale cigar shop manager and a store owner have been arrested for selling counterfeit stogies.
Investigators with the Broward Sheriff's Office Economic Crime Unit said that on Tuesday, they arrested Carolina Cigar Company manager Allen Boyd, 47, and 63-year-old Smoke Café owner James David Joiner, both of Fort Lauderdale.
Boyd, of the 3300 block of Northeast 33rd Street, and Joiner, of the 3000 block of North Ocean Drive, are charged with one count each of vending goods with counterfeit trademarks, investigators said.
According to BSO detectives, agents representing Altadis USA Inc., the corporate owners of such trademarked cigars as Monte-Cristo, Romeo y Julieta and H. Upmann Monarch, recently approached them regarding the possible sale of counterfeit versions of these at both businesses.
Investigators made three undercover purchases at each shop between Jan. 13th and Feb. 3rd. Each time, while in the company of Altadis agents, detectives purchased a couple of suspect cigar boxes valued at $250.00 each.
Since the buys were made in cash, shop vendors illegally waived taxes on each purchase, deputies said. The bogus stogies were then examined at Altadis headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and determined to be counterfeit, officials said.
BSO executed arrest and search warrants at Carolina Cigar Company, 3313 NE 33rd St., and at Fort Lauderdale Smoke Café, 3337 Oakland Park Blvd. on Tuesday.
Boyd and Joiner were both taken into custody and some 40 to 45 suspect cigar boxes were confiscated at each location, deputies said. It's believed that the counterfeit cigars were illegally packaged at the rear of each business and at a separate location in Miami-Dade County.
The total value of the confiscated bogus goods is estimated to be between $20,000 and $25,000, deputies said.
Boyd and Joiner are free on $500 bond each.