Three Rockford Men Sentenced to Federal Prison for Selling Counterfeit Clothes and Shoes in Rockford

ROCKFORD—Three Rockford men were sentenced today in federal court to prison for selling counterfeit clothes, shoes, and merchandise in Rockford in 2010. The cases arose out of a joint investigation into food stamp fraud and the sale of counterfeit merchandise by federal agents from the United States Department of Agriculture-Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG), Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (DHS-HSI), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and officers and detectives from the Rockford Police Department. As a result of the investigation five other Rockford men were charged in federal court with offenses relating to food stamp fraud (LINK cards)—those five men pleaded guilty and have already been sentenced.

Brothers ABDUL HARIZ, 23, and MOHAMMAD HARIZ, 21, of Rockford, each pleaded guilty on February 8, 2012 to conspiring to sell counterfeit shoes and apparel. According to their plea agreements, they sold counterfeit shoes and apparel at the Fashion Show store in Rockford between August 19, 2010, and December 14, 2010. MOHAMMED HAMAD, 44, was charged in a separate indictment. He pleaded guilty on March 8, 2012, to selling counterfeit goods at the Westside Grocery store in Rockford on October 21, 2010. In his plea agreement, Hamad admitted that he was a part-owner of Westside Groceries. He also admitted that employees of his store improperly allowed an individual cooperating with law enforcement agents to use a LINK card (food stamp benefits) to purchase counterfeit shoes. These three defendants were arrested on December 14, 2010, and charged with selling counterfeit goods.

All three defendants were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala to five months in federal prison to be followed by three years on supervised release. During the first five months of supervised release, each defendant will be placed on home confinement with electronic monitoring. After the home confinement, each defendant must then serve the remaining 31 months of supervised release. All of the defendants were ordered to pay full restitution to the victims of their crimes and to repay the government for the costs incurred in the undercover investigation. Defendant HAMAD was also sentenced to pay a fine of $5,000.

The sentencing today was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, JOE SMITH, Special Agent in Charge of the USDA-OIG, Midwest Region-Chicago; GARY J. HARTWIG, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the DHS-HSI; ROBERT D. GRANT, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI; ALVIN PATTON, Special Agent in  Charge of the Chicago Office of the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division; and CHET EPPERSON, Chief of the Rockford Police Department.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney John G. McKenzie.