TAMPA, Fla. – On February 3, a BP gas station located at 3930 North Nebraska Avenue was the site of a law enforcement joint operation that seized NFL counterfeit merchandise being sold prior to the Super Bowl on February 7.
The Tampa Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and NFL investigators were involved as Mylik Webb of Cambridge, Massachusetts was arrested.
According to the case’s Affidavit in Support of Forfeiture, a Tampa police detective identified Webb as linked to New York’s “Pretty in Pink” store, although business cards in Webb’s vehicle also linked him to another company, IOP Holding Corporation.
Neither company’s official registration indicated a registered agent name, according to police reports.
Webb had a tent set up at the gas station, possessing 12 jackets, six shirts, three packets of NFL Super Bowl masks, eight miscellaneous masks, two gaiters, one NBA Brooklyn mask, and one NFL hat, all which were deemed counterfeit by the NFL investigator.
He was charged with felony forging or counterfeiting private labels. Webb confessed that 80 other apparel items found in his vehicle or under his tent were counterfeit, but he could not be charged because there was no brand name investigator present to verify the apparel as “fake.”
The total amount of apparel value was set at $4,220.00. Wads of cash totaling $3,119.00 were also found.
Tampa police seized the cash along with Webb’s 2017 Mercedes Benz, considering them contraband under Florida’s Contraband Forfeiture Act.
However, the case was converted from a criminal to a civil case by dropping felony charges against Webb and re-issuing misdemeanor charges. Grayson Kamm, Chief Communications Officer for Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren was contacted for an explanation.
“The police officer wrote up the charges by referring to a law limited to people manufacturing counterfeit products, but we looked at the law again and it’s just a misdemeanor to market or sell counterfeit products,” said Kamm.
However, Tampa Police and their attorneys can still argue in court to justify the felony charge they issued.
Webb had advised detectives to “just give him a seizure notice and let him go,” and had readily confessed the products were counterfeit. Barry Taracks, founder of Taracks and Associates, Tampa, is the criminal defense attorney for Webb. He could not be reached for comment.
Subscribe to our newsletter!