Operation Bell Bottoms Nets Phony Clothing
Federal and local law-enforcement officials arrested a dozen people in the Los Angeles area Nov. 6 for allegedly selling counterfeit clothing, trafficking in narcotics and laundering money to Middle Eastern countries.
The arrests came after a two-year investigation, dubbed Operation Bell Bottoms, by a multi-agency task force comprising the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, according to United States Attorney’s spokesperson Thom Mrozek.
In their seizures, agents found clothing that appeared to be fake Lacoste polo shirts, fake Nike Air Force One shoes, Baby Phat clothing and various high-end blue-jeans labels such as True Religion, 7 For All Mankind and Bebe, law-enforcement officials said.
The clothing was being sold at Latina Fashion at 226 E. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles; T-Shirt World, no address given; and Hip Hop Connections Inc., no address listed, court documents said. Law-enforcement officials said cash was taken out of the country to Syria and Lebanon.
Arrested on Nov. 6 were Ali Khalil Elreda of Bell, Calif.; Mohamad Elreda, of Bell; Susanne Elreda of Smyrna, Ga.; Hussein Saleh Saleh of Bell; Robert Bell of Corona, Calif.; Dalissa Johnson of Corona; Moussa Matar of Cudahy, Calif.; twin brothers Mohamad and Ali Matar of Cudahy; Juan Gonzalez of Lynwood, Calif.; Frankie Higuera of Downey, Calif.; and Crystal Hill of Hawthorne, Calif.—Deborah Belgum
