CLEVELAND (WKBN) — A Stow man has been sentenced to just over 5 years in prison after he was found guilty of smuggling foreign-made body armor and selling it under the guise of a domestic product.
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Vall Iliev, 70, has been sentenced to 63 months (5.25 years) in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Donald C. Nugent after he pleaded guilty in March to smuggling foreign-made body armor and then selling it to law enforcement agencies and other members of the public as legitimate, domestically-made certified products.
liev was additionally ordered to serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay approximately $5.2 million in restitution.
According to court documents and testimony, in May 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Blaine, Washington port of entry (POE) intercepted a Canadian-registered truck found to be carrying more than 200 ballistic body armor plates in boxes originating from China…