Police: Men offered wood blocks as laptops

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JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Authorities in Mississippi said they arrested two men who were allegedly trying to sell blocks of wood disguised as laptop computers.

The Hinds County Sheriff's Department said Eddie Handford, 45, and Frank Hamilton, 54, were arrested Thursday after they tried to sell the counterfeit goods to an off-duty state trooper who made note of their license plate number, WLBT-TV, Jackson, Miss., reported Monday.

Investigators said the men covered blocks of wood and binders full of paper with duct tape and bubble wrap to make them look like laptop computers. Deputies said they placed Toshiba labels on the duct tape to make the phony computers look legitimate.

"By the time you take it and get it home, you find you've purchased a block of wood, you may as well throw it in the fireplace. It's no good," sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeffery Scott said.

Officials said they do not believe the men were successful in selling any of the fake laptops. They were each charged with two counts of trademark infringement and two counts of illegal sale of goods bearing counterfeit labels.

Handford and Hamilton could each face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 if convicted.