Whatcom woman sentenced for selling counterfeit goods
A Whatcom woman was sentenced to three months in prison and three months home confinement for trafficking counterfeit goods. Kara Suneva Mitchell’s sentence came from a U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday, April 7, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.
“We cannot tolerate a Robin Hood mentality in the community … even though you thought you were helping other mothers afford luxury goods, you were actually helping them participate in criminal activity,” U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones said at the sentencing hearing.
Mitchell was the owner of “Keeping up with Kara,” a Ferndale business that advertised 467 different items for sale online that appeared to be name-brand products such as Adidas, Gucci and Chanel. All products were priced substantially lower than the suggested retail price for genuine items.
An investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office revealed that three shipments destined for Mitchell and her company, and originating in China and Hong Kong, were seized from the mail in Oakland, California, in September 2021. The shipments contained a wide variety of counterfeit goods.
“As noted in the government’s sentencing memorandum, before the search warrant was executed, Mitchell was told more than once that what she was doing was illegal. Mitchell received several letters from CBP and Louis Vuitton’s counsel putting her on notice that her business activities were unlawful. It is an aggravating factor that, despite these numerous opportunities to cease … operations, Mitchell nonetheless persisted in obtaining and selling counterfeit merchandise, and even instructed an employee to describe that merchandise using coded language to avoid detection,” Special Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M. Ly wrote in her sentencing memorandum, the release stated.
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