Kansas

State of Kansas comes down hard on man who sold counterfeit Chiefs’ Super Bowl items

Chiefs merchandise was a hot seller in the days surrounding Super Bowl LIV.

But the state of Kansas came down hard on an out-of-state businessman who was selling counterfeit Chiefs and Super Bowl merchandise at the time.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday that Philip Colwell Jr., of McKenzie, Tennessee, was doing business as Novelties by Jr. The attorney general said in a news release that Colwell’s sales were at pop-up tents in Topeka and “failed to comply with Kansas consumer-protection laws.”

Colwell failed to respond to a lawsuit filed against him by the attorney general, per the news release. Schmidt’s office said District Judge Mary Christopher approved a default judgment that includes Colwell’s permanent ban from doing business in Kansas, work as a door-to-door salesman, and $30,000 in civil penalties plus the cost of the attorney general’s investigation.

The attorney general’s office said one more lawsuit is pending. That one is against two other pop-up sellers.

This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 12:06 PM.

Pete Grathoff
The Kansas City Star
From covering the World Series to the World Cup, Pete Grathoff has done a little bit of everything since joining The Kansas City Star in 1997.
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