Sep 27, 2016 2 min read

A North Strabane Township woman accused of selling counterfeit merchandise through social media waived her case to court Monday.

Tina Marie Policano, 41, of 60 Abbeywood Lane, was charged last month by township police with trademark counterfeiting.

Earlier this year, Officer Gary Scherer started noticing posts on a Facebook page for a Canonsburg yard sale group with knockoff items like Michael Kors purses for sale. After monitoring the site for a few months and seeing that a large amount of merchandise was being sold, he notified the federal Department of Homeland Security, the agency that monitors counterfeit and customs violations.

Scherer, another officer and two Homeland Security agents met with Policano in the parking lot of a Washington Road convenience store in June and made an undercover purchase from her, buying a counterfeit Michael Kors purse.

Police later obtained a search warrant for her home. More than 300 counterfeit items from Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Ray-Ban, North Face and Ugg brands valued at about $100,000 were found inside the home.

She told police she was in New York City, where she met a few people. Arrangements were made to ship the items to her home. Policano reportedly told Scherer that she had been selling the items for two years and at purse parties.

Policano is free on her own recognizance. She is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charge Dec. 13.