Crime & Safety

Buffalo Grove Man Charged with Creating, Selling Counterfeit Apparel

Ki Hwan Ahn faces felony charges for making and selling products bearing illegal sports logos and labels. Officers seized 10,000 counterfeit items valued at $250,000.

A Buffalo Grove man has been charged with two counts of felony counterfeiting after investigators seized about $250,000 in counterfeit apparel, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today (Wednesday).

Ki Hwan Ahn, 49, of the 400 block of Dogwood Terrace, was charged with one count of selling more than 2,000 counterfeit items, a Class 1 felony and one count of manufacturing counterfeit items, a Class 3 felony.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Special Operations Unit began investigating Ahn in March, after receiving a report from a concerned citizen that suspicious activity was taking place at his storefront operation BB Box, located in an office complex on the 5500 block of W. Touhy Avenue in Skokie, according to a release from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

Find out what's happening in Buffalo Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Investigators spent the following weeks conducting surveillance at the location and determined that Ahn was engaged in illegal counterfeiting.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for the business on March 31. Investigators discovered a large-scale counterfeiting operation inside, with illicit Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association and college sports labels printed on hats, T-shirts and long-sleeved shirts. The warehouse contained large embroidery machines used to design the counterfeit logos. Many items were already in boxes, packaged for delivery. Other merchandise was in the process of being produced. As officers executed the warrant, employees at the business were manufacturing Chicago Bears hats.

Find out what's happening in Buffalo Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Officers seized computer software and hardware used to create and store the counterfeit logo digital files. In total, officers seized about 10,000 counterfeit apparel items valued at about $250,000.

The employees who were at the business during the search put officers in contact with Ahn, who turned himself in April 1 at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Maywood police headquarters.

Ahn appeared in bond court in Skokie on Saturday. His next court date is April 14 in Skokie.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.