An Argenta woman who was arrested in April for trafficking counterfeit goods has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. Kimberly Nein of Argenta, along with Jannette Grant of Bloomington were operating a business known as The Purse Lady that offered items for sale that falsely bore trademarks of Coach, Kate Spade, Chanel, among other designer brands.
During a search warrant at both Grant’s home and Nein’s warehouse, agents recovered more than 15,000 counterfeit items with an estimated manufacturers’ suggested retail price of approximately $1.6 million.
U.S. District Attorneys says the women routinely traveled to Chicago and New York to replenish their inventory of what they called "knock off / replica" items.
Both Nein and Grant will begin serving their prison terms on October 9th.
