Roger Hooper - Guilty

[barrysloate]

Jeff- wouldn't you say that Coaches Corner is selling this kind of material on a rather large scale, and for a very long time?

[Matt]

I would guess that forged autos are much tougher to prove then shill bidding and card doctoring. Of course, if the forgeries are done by dot matrix printer, its a tad easier...

[barrysloate]

Matt- in the case against Hooper, Jimmy Spence was called in and testified that Hooper was selling fake sigs. He could do the same against CC or anyone else.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Matt- in the case against Hooper, Jimmy Spence was called in and testified that Hooper was selling fake sigs. He could do the same against CC or anyone else.

Barry - it seemed that the key to his testimony was seeing the dot patterns from a dot matrix printer on the sigs. From what I understand, these were not hand made forgeries, but rather printed ones, which are much easier to prove conclusively. Assuming a forgery is done in the correct pen, on the correct medium, I'd think it difficult to legally prove that it wasn't done by a certain individual - maybe he signed when he had something in his eye, or signed in an airplane where his movement was restricted or any number of reasons a sig might look different then a normal exemplar.

[barrysloate]

Matt- agreed the dot matrix ones were easy to tell. But can't an expert witness testify that even a signature rendered in ink is no good?

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Jeff- wouldn't you say that Coaches Corner is selling this kind of material on a rather large scale, and for a very long time?

Barry, I don't know. Have you contacted the FBI office local to Coaches Corner and made a complaint? Or any local law enforcement office?

[barrysloate]

No, I have not. I've never done any business with them. But I'm willing to bet they have bidders who have purchased numerous bad items from them. You would think at least one or more of them would be pretty irate after discovering they bought countefeit material. Those are the people who should and maybe have lodged complaints against them.

[calvindog]

Barry, people other than victims can make complaints or report illegal activity. I'm not sure if you have any free time but if you do you should contact state and federal law enforcement if you have reason to believe that they are engaging in fraud.

[barrysloate]

"I'm not sure if you have any free time..."

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate that. I'll try to squeeze a call into them in my first available minute.

[RobertGT]

How does CC evade criminal prosecution? From what I understand, they provide a refund to anyone who complains that an autograph is bogus without any hassle -- thereby protecting themselves from an actual theft accusation. I believe they then turn around and charge the consignor of said bogus merchandise a "returned item" fee.

They only stay in business by playing the odds - that A) most people can't determine a real autograph from a fake one, B) trust the CC cert actually means something or C) don't want to spend the money to send the autograph to a real authenticator.

By my estimation, 95 percent of CC autograph buyers should be demanding a refund.

[Leon]

I will almost guarantee that Coaches Corner has a blurb in their terms and conditions that protects them from all but the most blatant fraud. I doubt they step over that line too often. I am not taking their side whatsoever, I am just saying that they probably have their arses covered in most cases. Now, if you go the civil route, I could see that potentially being a big problem for them.

[Dalkiel]

Here's the docket.

http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketS...erID=201183801