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2 admit to selling fake NFL shirts at Tampa Super Bowl

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 2, 2009

TAMPA - Two South Carolina men admit they sold pirate NFL shirts outside the Super Bowl here in February.

Willie Bernard Smith, 39, pleaded guilty this morning in U.S. District Court to trafficking in counterfeit merchandise, a charge that carries up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $2 million.

His codefendant, Travis Collins, has signed an agreement to plead guilty to criminal infringement of copyright, a charge which carries up to a year in federal prison and up to a $100,000 fine. He is scheduled to plead guilty Nov. 9.

Both men are from Columbia, S.C.

According to their plea agreements, on the day of the Super Bowl, Tampa police saw both men selling Super Bowl T-shirts in a parking lot adjacent to Raymond James Stadium.

The shirts had the logo of the National Football League, a registered trademark of the NFL.

Smith previously had been ordered to cease and desist using the NFL logo and "willfully infringed the … trademark by selling counterfeit shirts," his plea agreement states.

Police and league officials had warned the public about counterfeit merchandise, saying shirts and other items licensed by the NFL contain a hang tag with a hologram and unique serial number.

In the days leading up to the game, federal agents seized more than 800 pieces of fake NFL merchandise. Those items included jerseys, T-shirts and cell phone holders and had an estimated street value of more than $100,000.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

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