Pittsburgh-area man gets prison time for selling fake Nikes

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh-area man who sold fake Nike athletic shoes in Pittsburgh’s poorest neighborhoods will spend 18 months in federal prison for trademark counterfeiting.

Forty-eight-year-old Bertram Tarpley had pleaded guilty in July before the same federal judge in Pittsburgh who sentenced him Wednesday. Tarpley also will spend three years on probation after he’s out of prison.

Monroeville police busted Tarpley when he took delivery of 80 pairs of counterfeit Nikes from a UPS truck behind a mall’s clothing store. Police searched his car and found 64 more pairs and investigators later determined Tarpley had bought $124,000 worth of the fake shoes from a New York City supplier.

Tarpley sold the shoes in nearby Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh’s East End neighborhoods.