Sherrie Householder, 59, of Nixa, Mo., is headed to federal prison for two years without parole after being sentenced Friday in Springfield for her role in a $90 million fraud scheme peddling counterfeit cell phone parts to hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting consumers.
U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips ordered Householder to pay $8,866,069 in restitution after she pleaded guilty on May 26, 2016, to one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering. The operation, run through her company Flash Technology, LLC (a.k.a. Flash Tech), sold fake components bearing the trademarks of Apple, Samsung, LG, Microsoft, Android, Dell, Blackberry, ASUS, Acer, Kindle, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, and ZTE — none of which actually manufactured the goods.
Householder managed Flash Tech’s U.S. operations while Wang “Frank” Luo, a Chinese national and company owner, shipped nearly 5,000 international consignments from China. The counterfeit parts — including screens, batteries, circuitry, and cases — were sold online and through a storefront in Springfield. From December 2012 to January 2016, the business raked in over $90 million in revenue.
Despite claiming the parts were legitimate, Householder knew otherwise in the final stretch. Between August and December 2015, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted over a dozen shipments and sent her formal seizure notices stating the contents were counterfeit. Ignoring the warnings, she continued selling the fake goods, moving approximately $8,860,000 worth from August 2015 until federal agents raided her operations on February 2, 2016.
When search warrants were executed at her home and business, agents seized more than 100,000 counterfeit parts with a combined retail value of $5.5 million — so many they filled two moving trucks. Also confiscated: desktops, laptops, iPads, hard drives, and cell phone components used to run the online empire.
Householder must forfeit $556,938 pulled from PayPal, Amazon, and bank accounts, along with digital devices and a $8,866,069 money judgment. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney and investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and IRS-Criminal Investigation.
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Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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