Three corporate officers of a Chula Vista company, OHR, Inc., and the firm itself have all pleaded guilty to charges relating to international trafficking in counterfeit cell phones.
The firm’s president, Michael Deitz, 39, and his father-in-law, Sidney Schwarz, 60, the treasurer, both of Chula Vista, admitted to importing cell phones that were made in China with counterfeit logos that bore the unauthorized names of Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia.
The cell phones were not made by those companies.
Deitz, also a co-owner of the corporation, purchased the cell phones and they were sold in Mexico, according to court documents. Schwarz wired payments to the sellers of the phones in China.
The firm itself also pleaded guilty to illegal importation, and faces a maximum fine of $500,000. Sentencing for Deitz, Schwarz, and the company is set for July 24 before U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
Deitz’s wife, Leora Schwarz, 32, also of Chula Vista, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failure to present formal entry documents to receive imported merchandise. She has been sentenced to one year probation and fined $1,000.
The men have already agreed to forfeit $150,000 to the U.S. government, which represents the amount of money made in the scheme.
The scheme goes back to January 2010 when the U.S. Customs sent a notice to OHR that all importers of electronic products worth more than $2,500 had the duty to present formal entry documents to Customs.
They had been received by the company without formal inspection in the mail.
Customs sent nine notices to OHR. Customs seized a box of goods ordered by Deitz to Schwarz’s residence in August 2011 and it contained hundreds of counterfeit Nokia and Blackberry cell phone housings, and counterfeit batteries.
Nineteen other charges involving conspiracy to launder money and trafficking in counterfeit goods will be dismissed.
Deitz and Sidney Schwarz remain free on $250,000 and $150,000 property bonds respectively.
