Summary of Criminal Prosecutions
FISCAL YEAR: 2013
1. PRINCIPAL DEFENDANT: Discount Computers Inc.
E.D. Michigan 12-CR-20282
E.D. Michigan 12-CR-20282
2. DEFENDANT: Brett Michael Glover
E.D. Michigan 13-CR-20305
E.D. Michigan 13-CR-20305
3. DEFENDANT: Mark Jeffrey Glover
E.D. Michigan 12-CR-20282
E.D. Michigan 12-CR-20282
Discount Computers Inc. (DCI), headquartered in Canton, Michigan, with warehouses in Maryland Heights, Missouri., and Dayton, New Jersey, operated as a broker of used electronic components, including computers and televisions. DCI resold working and disassembled broken items, selling them for scrap. A large part of DCI’s business involved exporting used cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to countries in the Middle East and Asia. Egypt prohibits the importation of computer equipment more than five years old. To evade this, all three DCI locations replaced the original factory labels on used CRT monitors with counterfeit labels, which reflected a more recent manufacture date. Over a five-year period, DCI sent at least 300 shipments to Egypt, with a total shipment value of at least $2.1 million, constituting more than 100,000 used CRTs monitors.
Under federal law it is illegal to knowingly use a counterfeit mark on or in connection with goods and services for the purpose of deceit or confusion. It is also illegal to store and dispose of hazardous waste, which includes certain electronic waste, or e-waste, without a permit. Glass from older CRT monitors is known to contain levels of lead, a known toxic hazardous waste. When deposited in landfills, the lead can leach out and contaminate drinking water supplies. These CRT monitors are required to be disposed of as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. By exporting older CRTs with fraudulent manufacture dates, Mark Jeffrey Glover sent a large quantity of older e-waste overseas, thus subjecting it to improper recycling, increasing the potential for environmental and human exposure to hazardous materials.
Under federal law it is illegal to knowingly use a counterfeit mark on or in connection with goods and services for the purpose of deceit or confusion. It is also illegal to store and dispose of hazardous waste, which includes certain electronic waste, or e-waste, without a permit. Glass from older CRT monitors is known to contain levels of lead, a known toxic hazardous waste. When deposited in landfills, the lead can leach out and contaminate drinking water supplies. These CRT monitors are required to be disposed of as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. By exporting older CRTs with fraudulent manufacture dates, Mark Jeffrey Glover sent a large quantity of older e-waste overseas, thus subjecting it to improper recycling, increasing the potential for environmental and human exposure to hazardous materials.
May 1, 2012
The defendants were each charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods or services, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 2320.
DCI was also charged with violating RCRA {42 U.S.C. 6928(d)(2)(A) - knowingly treats, stores or disposes of any hazardous waste...without a permit}.
CITATION: 18 U.S.C. 2320, 42 U.S.C. 6928(e)
October 18, 2012
Mark Glover pled guilty to the charges on behalf of himself and his company.
March 25, 2013
Mark Glover and DCI were sentenced as follows:
- DCI was sentenced to pay a $2M federal fine and $10,839.05 in restitution.
- Glover was sentenced to 30 months incarceration and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
April 19, 2013
Brett Glover was charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods or services, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 2320.
May 6, 2013
Brett Glover pled guilty to the charge.
August 29, 2013
Brett Glover was sentenced to 12 months and a day incarceration and was ordered to pay a $6,000 federal fine.
STATUTE:
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Title 18 U.S. Criminal Code (TITLE 18)