MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man is in jail, accused of trying to sell more than $46,500 in counterfeit items, including some pricey purses.
Baidy Dia was nabbed in an undercover sting operation. Investigators say he was selling the fake couture in the parking lot of a BP gas station off Elvis Presley Boulevard.
Boxes and trash bags littered the parking lot of the gas station Monday, but just three days ago, investigators say Dia was selling other bags that were the hot commodity, and all of it was fake. He was arrested December 17.
According to detectives, it all started back in December. On the 15th, Dia sold a fake Michael Kors purse to an undercover officer. Then, a little more than a month later on January 16, another undercover officer made a purchase. Shortly after, Dia was nabbed.
Detectives said the counterfeit items included 41 Michael Kors purses, Gucci and Louis Vuitton belts, as well as Ray Ban and Dolce and Gabbana eyeglasses.
“I didn’t know that,” was the response WREG got when we questioned Ramzi Murshad about the fake items.
Murshad works at the gas station where Dia set up shop and said he thought everything was real.
“That’s what I thought,” Murshad said.
Murshad said before Dia was arrested, he told him he needed to leave the property.
“I tell him, ‘You can’t stand here and sell stuff, you have to rent a store or a place,'” Murshad said.
Police also said they found more than 370 counterfeit Michael Kors tags in Dia’s car, where are used to produce the fake purses, and that Dia refused to give them a statement.
