A Cuyahoga Falls man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he was convicted of trafficking in more than $180,000 worth of counterfeit merchandise.

Authorities say Ronald Jason Azar, 34, of Cuyahoga Falls, was involved in trafficking or attempting to traffic 104 counterfeit handbags. If you're into labels - it included Gucci, Coach, Louis Vuitton and Versace.

Azar pleaded guilty in October to a one-count indictment charging him with trafficking in merchandise containing counterfeit trademarks, logos or labels.

----------

News Release: United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio:

Ronald Jason Azar, age 34, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in connection with his recent conviction for trafficking in more than $180,000 worth of counterfeit merchandise, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Azar pleaded guilty in October to a one-count indictment charging him with trafficking in merchandise containing counterfeit trademarks, logos or labels.

On or about April 27, 2011, Azar intentionally trafficked and attempted to traffic in approximately 104 counterfeit designer handbags which, if genuine, were valued at approximately $183,488, according to court documents.

The handbags included 12 Gucci, 23 Coach, 17 Louis Vuitton, five Versace, five Chanel, two Marc Jacobs, three Dooney & Burke, six Prada, eight Fendi, seven Chloe, seven Jimmy Choo and nine Dolce & Gabbana handbags, which contained counterfeit marks, logos, labels, hang tags, patches, stickers, emblems, holograms and packaging. The marks on the merchandise were identical to and substantially indistinguishable from marks used on genuine merchandise, and were in use and registered for such goods on the principle register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, according to court documents.

The use of such counterfeit and spurious marks was likely to cause confusion, mistake or to deceive, according to court documents.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern, Cybercrime Coordinator for the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office, following an investigation by the Cleveland Office of the Department of Homeland Security, Office Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Three police departments that patrol the Montrose area are implementing a new notification system they hope will curtail the use of stolen credit cards and the passing of counterfeit bills to area merchants.

Bath Township Police Chief Mike McNeely says the new instant notification system linking the Bath, Copley and Fairlawn police departments with Montrose businesses can hopefully more quickly stop these fraudulent transactions before several stores are victimized.

McNeely tells AkronNewsNow, "This will be a communication system where you notify them by text message, via their mobile phone, computer, and speed is the important part of it."

McNeely says credit card fraud, stolen identification and counterfeiting are growing problems in the area. " We have incidents of counterfeit money being passed. What we want to do is notify all the other retailers in the area as quickly as possible to make them aware of what activity is taking place.," says McNeely.

He says credit card and identity thieves move quickly once they have your credit information. " What we find frequently is if a person has their purse stolen they will take this credit card and immediately go to the other big box stores in the area and ring up purchases before the customer is aware of it."

McNeely says the three police departments hope to have the new fraud notification system in operation beginning in April.