HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A man who owns a Homestead auto parts store is facing a mountain of felony charges after police said an intercepted shipment led them to find a trove of counterfeit airbags at his business, some of which were filled with junk.
Michael Keith Reid, 61, of southwest Miami-Dade, was arrested Wednesday. He’s facing 306 felony charges of importing fake or junk-filled airbags and one felony count of counterfeiting more than $20,000 in goods.
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Reid, police said, owns Mike’s Auto Miami at 777 W. Mowry Drive. He lives in the Kendall area.
According to Miami-Dade police, Reid got on authorities’ radar after Homeland Security Investigations agents in Raleigh, North Carolina conducted a border search of a FedEx shipment of 20 Honda airbags from the United Kingdom, bound for Mike’s Auto.
Agents suspected the airbags were counterfeit and sent them to South Florida for further inspection, police said.
An arrest report states that HSI agents and Miami-Dade police inspected and photographed the airbags on March 15.
Police said a Honda representative specializing in counterfeit parts confirmed through the photos that the airbags were indeed phony, pointing out that they were packaged and marked improperly.
A Miami-Dade detective called up Mike’s Auto and requested a quote for 2015 Honda Accord airbags and was told there were “plenty in stock” and could be bought for $350 a piece, police said.
According to the arrest report, authentic airbags would sell for more than $900 a piece.
“The existence of these airbags, and their possible installation into the vehicles of unsuspecting purchasers creates a serious health and safety risk to the public,” police wrote. “The airbags in question are not manufactured to the same quality or standards as those manufactured by the Honda Motor Corporation and as such their timely operation in a time of dire need cannot be readily assured.”
Police said data from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration “has shown that these counterfeit airbags consistently malfunction, ranging from simple nondeployment during a crash to the expulsion of metal shrapnel during deployment.”
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade and Homestead police, along with federal agents and U.S. Department of Transportation officials, conducted a search of Mike’s Auto after getting a warrant, the report states.
Police said they found 282 counterfeit airbags, most labeled as being from Honda and Acura, but also fake airbags labeled with the Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz brands.
“In addition to the counterfeit airbags, four hoax Chevrolet airbags, which were junk-filled, nonfunctional, and made to give the appearance of an operational airbag were also located,” police wrote.
Police said Reid, who was unable to provide an airbag log as required by Florida law, told investigators he paid $200 per airbag regardless of the make or model of the vehicle and admitted that $700 is the normal, low-end retail price for an airbag.
The report states he also acknowledged that genuine airbag boxes carry explosive warning labels and the boxes he had do not and “were easily crushed.”
Police said the seized airbags were worth $281,766.
Reid remained held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday afternoon, with his bond listed as “to be set” in online records.