Last Defendant Sentenced for Counterfeiting Guitars

PHILADELPHIA—Randy Gray, 27, of Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced today for his role in a scheme to traffic in counterfeit guitars carrying the marks of C.F. Martin and Company Guitars, Guild Guitars Incorporated, and Gibson Guitar Corporation. The counterfeit goods bore marks that were identical with and substantially indistinguishable from genuine marks in use and registered for those goods on the principal register in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and which are found on genuine guitars and the use of which was meant to deceive. The scheme resulted in 165 counterfeit guitars being sold to unsuspecting pawn shops, which paid a total of approximately $56,000 for the items.

Gray is one of four defendants charged in the case, each of whom pleaded guilty. In addition to one day in jail and three years of supervised release, the judge ordered the following: Gray was ordered to pay $7,617 in restitution; co-defendant Bruce Alford, 41, of Fort Worth, Texas, was ordered, on December 5, 2013, to pay $8,701 in restitution and a $100 special assessment; co-defendant Josh Davis, 39, of Galveston, Texas, was ordered, on January 15, 2014, to pay $22,047.60 in restitution and serve six months of home confinement; and co-defendant Romeo Rondeau, 44, of Fort Worth, Texas, was ordered, on November 7, 2013, to pay $7,133.93 in restitution and serve six months of home confinement.

The case was investigated by the FBI-Allentown Resident Agency and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Gallagher.