KANSAS CITY — A 42-year-old Leawood man has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison for selling $1 million worth of counterfeit Cisco computer equipment. Christopher Myers pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to bring goods into the united states by false statements, to smuggle goods into the united states and to traffic in counterfeit goods today, said U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom. Myers admitted he and co-defendant Timothy Weatherly operated a business called Deals Direct in Merriam and imported computer equipment from China. They put counterfeit Cisco labels on the equipment and placed the counterfeit goods in Cisco boxes with counterfeit Cisco manuals, Grissom said. The counterfeit equipment was sold on Deal Direct’s Web site and on eBay as genuine Cisco equipment. They gained access to Cisco’s confidential serial number verification Web site and obtained legitimate serial numbers. Investigators raided their warehouse in November 2006 and found hundreds of counterfeit Cisco labels, stickers, boxes and documents as well as thousands of counterfeit Cisco goods. Weatherly will be sentenced Oct. 3.
Monday, July 11, 5 p.m.
