11 VENDORS ARRESTED AT FLEA MARKET IN EPHRATA, PA

State Police Target Green Dragon In Ephrata, Pennsylvania

A big crowd at a Lancaster County flea market got quite a show Friday as police targeted vendors who sell counterfeit goods.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies raided the Green Dragon farmers market in Ephrata Township, Lancaster County, on Friday afternoon and charged 11 vendors with selling counterfeit merchandise.

Ten men and one woman were arrested during the 12:15 raid. All were charged with trademark counterfeiting, forgery and conspiracy, state police said.

Investigators seized more than 5,000 pieces of merchandise and several thousand dollars in cash.

Troopers did not release the names of those arrested or say if they were jailed. But two of those arrested also were issued federal immigration detainers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The immigration status of a third person was under investigation.

Several vendors were issued citations for selling merchandise without licenses or the proper taxing documents, police said.

Rohrbach said it was not the first time police have charged people with selling counterfeit merchandise there and likely will not be the last. "When you run a flea market, you get some of this. Vendors are warned they will be barred from the market if they sell counterfeit merchandise.” But he added, "We do not have the ability to detect counterfeit merchandise."

Green Dragon bills itself as one of the largest farmers market on the East Coast, with more than 400 vendors on 30 acres.

Rohrbach also said the raid wasn't a surprise to him. "We expected investigators to come through because they have been to other markets looking for counterfeit merchandise," he said. "We don't like the publicity but it gives us a cleaner operation and that's what we try to run here."

All those arrested, he said, were transient vendors and the raid won't affect business at all