Officials: 2 arrested in North Texas over alleged fake sports memorabilia scheme
North Texas authorities arrested two people for selling fake sports memorabilia online, officials said.
MCKINNEY, Texas — Signed Michael Jordan jerseys. An Alex Rodriguez autographed batting helmet. Dozens of boxes of authentic helmets and footballs and shoes and photos.
Except, well, they were all fake — at least according to North Texas, who say a man and woman behind the alleged counterfeits are now in custody.
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday the arrests of Wendell Gidden-Rogers and Lisa Skolnick on charges of trademark counterfeiting of $30,000 to $150,000, a third-degree felony.
Investigators executed a search warrant Wednesday at a home in the 6000 block of Saint Michael Drive in McKinney, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Officials said the warrant was obtained as part of an investigation into the online sale of “fraudulently manufactured and authenticated sports memorabilia.”
When investigators searched the home, they found “a significant amount of evidence supporting the investigation,” including “fictitious certificates of authentication and thousands of sports memorabilia items that were falsely represented as genuine.”
The sheriff’s office posted to social media on Thursday several photos of the allegedly fake memorabilia, which included numerous framed jerseys that had been purported to be autographed, stacks of allegedly signed football helmets and footballs, plus other miscellaneous items including allegedly autographed shoes, baseball bases supposedly from Yankee Stadium and pictures of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
On Friday WFAA spoke with Scott Emer, one of the owners of Trading Card World in Dallas.
“If you see a million-dollar sports card for 50 bucks, I’d be worried,” said Emer. “My thing with autographed memorabilia is: I consider it fake until I authenticate it.”