Jeez, we will never be able to look at someone in a Scooby Doo or Barney costume in the same way again. The Queens DA's office announced that a Queens man was charged with selling counterfeit costumes of characters like the Scoob, the purple one, and Bob the Builder. And how the Queens DA nabbed 43-year-old Julio Quevado is crazy.
Hit Entertainment, which owns the trademark license to those characters, told the Queen DA's office that it suspected Quevado of selling the fake costumes. So an investigator from Hit and a detective posed as a husband-and-wife porn producing team who wanted to buy some costumes for a "furry porn" film. Quevado led them to a storage facility in Jamaica where he had hundreds of costumes (Dora the Explorer! Thomas the Tank Engine! The Tasmanian Devil!). A law enforcement source confirmed to the Daily News, "There is a whole subculture engaged in that kind of activity." And note to anyone who is thinking of buying a legitimate cartoon character costume: They cost thousands of dollars (Quevado was selling his for $250).
Quevado was arrested for trademark counterfeiting. Queens DA Richard Brown, taking a breather from the Sean Bell case, said, "There isn't a child around who doesn't watch the exploits of Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, Barney and Scooby-Doo. To corrupt the image of these popular cartoon characters or have individuals of unknown backgrounds dressed in cheap-looking costumes in close proximity to young children is particularly troublesome." Um, why is DA Brown calling their adventures "exploits?"
And one of the most disturbing stories we've ever read was Salon's 2000 article on plushies.
