ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
CBS Atlanta News is asking tough questions about how much a California company pocketed for selling counterfeit smoke detectors to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.
The exclusive investigation forced a recall of more than 18,000 fake smoke detectors. The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department handed out counterfeit smoke detectors to high-risk, low-income areas over the past five years.
The fire department bought them from Silver Sails, based in California. Bob and Judie Silver own the company.
"Did you think you were going to get away with selling counterfeit smoke detectors to the city of Atlanta?" reporter Jennifer Mayerle asked Bob Silver.
"There's no counterfeit smoke detectors," said Bob Silver.
Our exclusive investigation confirmed the smoke detectors are fake and more than 18,000 of them have now been recalled. How much cash did the Silvers make off the sale?
Mayerle discovered the Silvers imported the counterfeit smoke detectors from China and shipped them to the port of Los Angeles.
She went to the man who helped the Silvers' import the smoke detectors. Customs broker Jieh Lee gave her access to his computer and the Silvers records.
A commercial invoice used in foreign trade gives the value of the product, in this case, smoke detectors. The Silvers valued the two shipments for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department at $20,765.
The Silvers charged the fire department $138,805. That means the profit is $118,040. And Mayerle discovered the smoke detectors actually should have cost more, if they were real. She checked with the First Alert store to find out what the bulk price is for the same type of approved smoke detector.
The two orders should have cost $203,577. That's a nearly $65,000 difference.
"Did it concern you the bid was so low it could have something wrong with them?" Mayerle asked Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran.
"Unless there's some historical information or evidence, we just celebrate that we have a bidder that met the requirements at a cost that's within our budget and we move on," said Cochran.
When Mayerle started her investigation, one of the first red flags was the cheap price of the smoke detector. The tidbit of information kept her investigating because she had done the research on how much the real, approved smoke detector should cost.
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