Counterfeit condom trafficker gets prison term

A Long Island man who distributed defective counterfeit condoms made in mainland China was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison Wednesday, court officials said.

Jian Wang, 44, had been found guilty of trafficking in counterfeit goods after more than a million counterfeit Trojan condoms were seized from a storage unit he maintained at 65 W. John St. in Hicksville and a Dollar 99 Mart he operated at 140 Newbridge Rd., Hicksville, according to court papers.

Wang was a member of a six-person ring that was arrested in 2008 on charges of trafficking in a number of counterfeit products made in China, including copies of Barbie dolls, Louis Vuitton handbags, Marvel comic books and Major League baseball hats. The others are awaiting sentencing.

The counterfeit condoms were sold between 2005 and 2008, mainly in small discount stores in the metropolitan area, as well as in Texas and Virginia, according to officials.

The packaging of the counterfeit condoms was almost identical to that of the real product, except it was plastic, not aluminum foil, officials said.

When members of the counterfeiting ring were originally arrested, sources familiar with the case said the condoms were of inferior quality but were not defective. But more recent testing by the Food and Drug Administration has shown that the imitation condoms were defective, according to federal prosecutor Charles Kelly.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn gave Wang the maximum sentence under a plea-bargain agreement.

Wang's lawyer, Glenn Obedin, of Central Islip, had asked that his client not be given any prison time because, he said, Wang's crime was nonviolent and he was unlikely to be in difficulty with the law again.

But Geoffrey Potter, the attorney for Church and Dwight, the company that manufactures Trojans, who was also in court, said Wang should receive a jail sentence because his "crime shows a callous disregard for the public's health and safety."

Church and Dwight has previously won $6 million in a civil damages suit from Wang, according to Potter, who is with the New York City law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.