Fake UGG Boots, North Face Jackets Seized In Dollar Store Raid

EASTPOINTE (WWJ) - Charges are pending after Michigan State Police seized dozens of counterfeit designer items from a dollar store in Eastpointe in a raid this week.

MSP Lt. Mike Shaw said police received a tip about that the goods — about $500,000 worth if they were real — were being sold at the Dollar Castle at 10 Mile Road and Gratiot.

"UGG boots, there is Nike shoes, different styles of jeans, expensive jeans...North Face jackets and things like that," Shaw said.

All the items were being sold at a too-good-to-be-true bargain price, and the store was even offering layaway.

Shaw said that when undercover officers bought some of the items, they were found to be phony.

"You can kinda tell when you start really looking closely that the quality of the boots is not there," said Shaw. "There was other items: colognes, perfumes that he was selling at a reduced price; and a lot of problems with these colognes and perfumes, when they come from China, they contain a lot of chemicals that are harmful to you."

But did anyone really believe the items were legit?

"We're all susceptible to getting a good deal, especially during the holiday season," said Shaw. "This individual was pretty good at what he did."

On Thursday, MSP served a search warrant on the owner and the store was closed to the public.

Along with the counterfeit goods, police also seized around $8,000 in illegal proceeds.

The case has been turned over to Macomb County Prosecutors Office which will decide on charges against the store owner — a 46-year-old Warren man whose name has not yet been released. WWJ has also been told executives from Dollar Castle are revoking the franchise rights to that store.

State police were assisted by the Eastpointe Police Department in the investigation.