PLYMOUTH — The Marshall County Blueberry Festival Committee is being credited by police for possibly preventing the theft of personal information of as many as half a million people Friday night.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Lourdes Lemler said the committee’s action taken before the festival opened Friday night resulted in the arrest of seven vendors.

Police confiscated hundreds of designer purse knock-offs, high-end designer jeans fakes, and accessories such as sunglasses, after an unidentified festival vendor tipped off festival officials of what he thought might be illegal sales activity in Centennial Park.

Lemler told The Tribune at the Bremen Post Tuesday morning that Blueberry officials called her around 2:30 p.m. Friday while she was walking the grounds in plain clothes. She was told of the complaint, and proceeded to check out the various booths. Lemler then located four additional booths where fraudulent sales were suspected.

Additional police stepped in, confiscating merchandise and placing the items in a truck and trailer brought onto the scene after police determined the growing quantity of suspected fake goods.

During the course of that action, Lemler said, police found one vendor with a credit card scanner hooked to a cell phone. The fear, Lemler explained, was that the information taken from credit cards could have been forwarded through the cell phone "anywhere," resulting in identity theft of anyone making a purchase from that vendor.

"That was a big deal for the (Blueberry Festival) board," Lemler said. "They said, ‘We don’t want this.’ It was a pro-active stance they took."

Police are now working with federal authorities to track the vendor’s phone records, she said. The ISP Cyber Crimes Unit also is working to gain information from the vendor’s computer. It is a crime to utilize a card scanner for any purpose other than to communicate with a financial institution for the purpose of a legal sale, Lemler added.

"My investigation has just started," Lemler said. "The Blueberry board helped with that because we maintained the chain of custody (with confiscated evidence). And the Sheriff’s Posse did a great job helping, too."

As police fanned out to booths on both the east and west side of the covered bridge in the park, word began to trickle out of the action underway.

"One gentleman left without his goods," Lemler said of the vendor’s speedy departure.

Festival organizers and police believe they know the vendor’s name and address, she said.

Lemler said police used the festival committee’s vendor forms, which require the vendor name, address and a brief summary of what the vendor is selling.

"I have their driver’s licenses, wallets and money," Lemler said, pointing to the hundreds of pieces of merchandise that could have meant big profit for those arrested.

Worse though, Lemler said, is what the purchase of those items really means.

"The public needs to understand that when you buy these kind of (knock-off) purses, you’re contributing to organized crime," the detective explained. "It’s a bad choice you’re making."

"The Blueberry board really did good by catching this when they did," she added.

"It was a problem for a couple of hours for several people," Mark Senter, Blueberry Festival spokesman, said Tuesday morning. "It put out vendors who were doing everything right, with people walking around in their areas. We appreciate their patience."

It was the first such incidence, Senter said, of this type of activity at the festival, and one organizers wanted to stop in its tracks.

Senter said, "The Marshall County Blueberry Festival is known for its quality merchandise and its good reputation. We want it to stay that way."

Staff writer Anita Munson:
amunson@sbtinfo.com
(574) 936-2920