Fayetteville business owner arrested after search warrant reveals counterfeit software

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A Peachtree City man has been arrested after a search warrant turned up counterfeit computer software at his business in Fayetteville Tuesday, police said.

Fred Paul Williams, 46, was charged with one felony count of counterfeit trademark violation and three counts of misdemeanor counterfeit trademark violations, police said.

Williams owns ZeBest Deals on Habersham Drive, which had over $600,000 in sales so far this year, said Detective Marvin Vinson of the Fayetteville Police Department. All the sales were made through an Internet web site, police said.

"The merchandise is very high-end, very high-quality," Vinson said, adding that he believes the inventory may have been produced overseas.

Police hope to learn where Williams got the counterfeit goods, said Detective Steve Crawshaw. They will also determine whether or not any of the goods were produced by Williams, Crawshaw said.

"There will possibly be further arrests," Crawshaw said.

Police seized counterfeit Microsoft items with a retail value of $80,000, police said.

The business computers were also confiscated and they may yield further evidence in the case, Crawshaw said. Some of the software sold by ZeBest Deals was legitimate, Crawshaw said.

"The majority of it was counterfeit software," Crawshaw said.

ZeBest Deals was selling counterfeit copies of Windows 2000, counterfeit software user licenses and counterfeit certificates of authenticity, police said. Crawshaw said Microsoft officials had notified Williams in February that he was selling counterfeit goods.

The business opened in June of last year although Williams told police he didn't sell any products until January, Crawshaw said.

The investigation began when corporate security investigators from Microsoft contacted the Fayetteville Police Department with information that turned up in an ongoing Microsoft investigation, police said.

The information provided by Microsoft helped lead to this week's search warrant for the business, police added.