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Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies Seize Counterfeit Clothes and Other Items In Whitehaven Business Raid

Release Date: August 11, 2004

Detectives with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office ALERT Team continued their efforts today to combat the manufacturing and sales of counterfeit merchandise in Memphis and Shelby County.

The ALERT Team (Area Law Enforcement Retail Team) is a collaborative between the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, area retailers, the motion picture industry, music industry and the apparel industry, to investigate shoplifting, stolen merchandise, counterfeiting and other crimes.

Investigators raided the “Rayveco (Pronounced RAVE) Products” store at 949 West Brooks Road in Whitehaven, just after 10:30 this morning. Sheriff’s detectives, agents with the Tennessee Department of Revenue and investigators representing major clothing manufacturers, discovered hundreds of counterfeit name-brand clothes, caps, purses and jewelry.

“Counterfeit items, whether they are clothes, jewelry or other goods, continue to be a growing problem in Shelby County. It not only hurts legitimate retailers, but there is a vast criminal network that’s involved in the selling of these illegal items. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office ALERT Team, through its partnership with retailers and other agencies, will continue to aggressively investigate these illegal business operations” said Shelby County Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell, Jr.

Many of the items seized today had counterfeit labels promoting items for the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team, major sports leagues and various colleges. Watches sporting the Gucci label and designer purses were also being sold at the store. All of the items, if sold on the street, would have been worth in the thousands of dollars.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the owner of the store, Raymond Valle, 75, of Southaven, MS. He will be charged with Criminal Simulation, a felony.

So far this year, almost 40 people have been arrested by the Sheriff’s Office ALERT Team. More than a quarter of a million dollars in stolen property has been recovered and returned to area stores.

Counterfeit clothes and other items worth about $200,000 have been confiscated by Sheriff’s Office detectives since the ALERT Team was formed.

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