CHANDLER, Ariz. — A Chandler man has been placed on probation for one year after he pleaded guilty to importing counterfeit N95 masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark Cohn, 68, was sentenced last week in federal court after pleading guilty to one count of importing goods by means of false statements, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Arizona.
In October 2020, Cohn imported counterfeit N95 masks into the U.S. from China by using fake shipping labels that attempted to present the products as being legitimate.
N95 masks were in high demand for healthcare workers during the peaks of the pandemic since they were better suited for protecting users from the virus.
But federal inspectors in Phoenix quickly discovered Cohn's masks were counterfeits after 3M confirmed the defendant's products weren't produced by the company's facilities.
Prosecutors said Cohn sold 20,000 of his masks to a third-party vendor that had supplied the masks to a Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Minnesota. The counterfeit masks were seized before they were used by medical workers.
Cohn was also ordered to pay $8,000 in unpaid taxes and tariffs to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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What is the Valley?
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.
