Sacramento Warehouse Contains $4 Million In Counterfeit Apparel

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - It's robbing the state of $8 billion a year, counterfeit goods in the underground economy destined for retail stores all across the U.S.

Wednesday, the focus is on a South Sacramento warehouse.

"The warehouse I would estimate is a minimum of 70 feet wide and over a 100 feet long and it's just full. Tens and tens of thousands of items," said Assistant Special Agent Dan Lane of Homeland Security.

The warehouse is stacked 40 feet high with boxes and boxes of fake Adidas apparel. The sheer amount of it all shocked even homeland security investigations.

"Its very efficiently arranged with shelves that reach way up and lots of them, and all of those shelves are just stacked with merchandise," said Lane.

And it may seem like a victimless crime, but it's Californians who are paying the price from the criminals who run these illegal practices.

"It also cheats the state out of billions of dollars of tax revenue that could be better used to support state services education and public safety programs," said Mira Guertin, California Chamber of Commerce.

With the state trying to balance a possible budget deficit of close to $10 billion, eliminating the underground economy could really help fix California's economy.