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NORFOLK — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more counterfeit goods at the Port of Virginia this week. And this time, they made sure the bust got some attention.
After 101 scale models of the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium were confiscated because of counterfeit electrical plugs, the U.S. Customs press office issued a release with this headline: “Norfolk CBP Officers Revoke Stadium Pass of Rocky Top Fans.”
The statement’s lead-in is even better.
“Fans of the Tennessee Volunteers might not be in the mood to sing their famed victory song, Rocky Top, after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 101 scale models of Neyland Stadium in Norfolk on Monday,” it reads.
A portion of “Rocky Top,” a popular bluegrass song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 and first recorded by the Osborne Brothers, has been the unofficial fight song of the Volunteers since the early 1970s.
The football stadium replicas arrived in Norfolk from China on Feb. 20, en route to an address in Arlington, Texas. During inspection, Customs officers discovered electrical plugs on the scale models bearing an Underwriters Laboratories mark that was possibly counterfeit, and detained the shipment.
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Trade experts later determined the UL marks were not authentic, meaning the plugs are a safety risk because they are not certified to meet standards for electrical equipment.
“Imagine a Volunteers fan proudly displaying his or her lighted replica stadium model only to wake up to the sound of the smoke detectors. This is a real danger posed by counterfeited electrical products,” Mark Laria, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News, said in the release. “These stadium models are an odd thing to counterfeit, but this seizure proves that unscrupulous manufacturers and vendors will try to illegally profit on any commodity despite the potential threat it may pose to consumers.”
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The Pilot asked a customs official about the eye-catching news release.
“We only have a fraction of a second, maybe a couple of seconds to get (the media’s) attention,” said Steve Sapp, public affairs officer for the CBP’s Mid-Atlantic Region. “... Now there’s a consumer out there, who might be on the market for these replica stadiums, that understands the replica they get may or may not be authentic. And if it’s not authentic, there’s a chance they can harm themselves, burn their house or do something else that could be harmful.”
Sapp, a self-described college sports fan, said he often writes a lead that’s directly tied to what the commodity is — but it’s not about having fun.
“We also hope that by catching the news media’s attention to cover our enforcement successes that our men and women in uniform get proper recognition for doing what they do every day to help keep us all safe,” Sapp said.
Officers at the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News completed the seizure Monday, and the goods — had they been authentic — were valued at $252,500. No one has been criminally charged.
Last week, customs officers at the port seized more than $700,000 worth of counterfeit designer goods that arrived from Seoul, South Korea. During the 2022 fiscal year, officials confiscated nearly $25 million in fake goods. Had those items been authentic, their manufacturer suggested retail price would be more than $2.98 billion, customs said.
Matt Cahill, 757-222-5450, matthew.cahill@pilotonline.com