Sentence has been suspended in the case of a Quebec man who sold thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit clothing at two stores in Cavendish last summer.
Jason J. Bregman, 44, of Cote St. Luc, has been placed on probation for eight months, during which time he must perform 80 hours of community service work.
P.E.I. Supreme Court Justice John Mitchell also put in place orders for restitution and forfeiture that will cost Bregman more than $30,000. He must also pay a victims of crime surcharge of $2,263.25.
All monies owed by Bregman will be subtracted from money seized by the RCMP when these businesses were raided. The balance will be returned to him.
The list of items declared forfeit by the courts included hundreds of pieces of counterfeit clothing and blanks. Those items found not to be counterfeit are to be returned.
Declared forfeit as well were a heat press machine used to place brand name logos on cheaper articles of clothing and a quantity of heat transfer decals.
The court was told that as much as 30 per cent of the clothing Bregman sold at the stores in question, Ocean Drive Clothing and Tropical Trends, were counterfeit. The clothing carried the brand names and/or logos of over 20 companies.
The bogus clothing carried such names as Puma, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Playboy, AC/DC and Corona. There were also articles of clothing containing NFL logos.
The seized merchandise included T-shirts, sweatshirts, ball caps, shorts and pants.
Mitchell said it would be impossible to quantify the loss to the public as a result of this crime. He described Bregman’s crimes as being motivated purely by profit. He said there was most certainly an element of premeditation involved.
At one point he described Bregman’s actions as brazen. He said Bregman believed P.E.I. was an out-of-the-way place and  no one would ever catch on to what he was doing.
Mitchell said the sale of counterfeit clothing was a serious crime, one that costs legitimate clothing manufacturers a great deal of money and cheats members of the public who believe they are buying quality merchandise manufactured by reputable companies. Those who engage in the sale of counterfeit clothing also hurt honest retailers by undercutting their prices, he said.
The charges against Bregman were laid as the result of an extensive two-month investigation by RCMP in which undercover officers made buys of counterfeit clothing.