The infamous white Bronco from the O.J. Simpson chase. Al Capone’s rosary. A painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy. And now, a collection of counterfeit coupons seized from the home of a Phoenix housewife.
What do they all have in common? They’re all unusual artifacts connected to infamous crimes – and now, they’ll all be on exhibit together at “the most arresting crime museum in the United States.”
That’s how the Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee describes itself. Formerly known as the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, DC, the museum was rebranded and relocated in 2016 to an Alcatraz Island Prison-inspired building in the Appalachian tourist town.
And now, among artifacts you never knew until now that you needed to see, like Ted Bundy’s dental molds and Charles Manson’s acoustic guitar, are original crime scene photos and some of the actual fraudulent coupons confiscated during one of the country’s most notorious coupon crime busts.
The museum this month is expanding its pop culture and counterfeit gallery, to include a new section titled “Operation: Super Coupon.” That was the name of the 2012 investigation that led to the arrests of three Phoenix women, who were caught with $40 million worth of counterfeit coupons that they had been selling online.
If it sounds familiar, it’s because the case captured the public’s attention, making headlines at the time of the women’s arrests, becoming the subject of TV true-crime shows, and inspiring the movie Queenpins nearly a decade later.
“The idea came to be because we work with the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, and we thought this story was a great addition to that exhibit area,” Alcatraz East Artifacts and Programs Manager Ally Pennington told Coupons in the News. “Alcatraz East has always had a gallery that includes counterfeit crimes and this display expands the information shared in that gallery to include coupon fraud.”
To gather information and artifacts, the museum reached out to investigators involved in the case, including David Lake. He currently runs the Center on Shadow Economics, a research center focusing on the economic impact of black market crimes. But back in 2012, he was the police sergeant in Phoenix who ran “Operation: Super Coupon,” raiding the home of ringleader Robin Ramirez and arresting her, along with her associates Amiko Fountain and Marilyn Johnson.
“They asked for memorabilia from the case, and it had been so long, most of that was gone,” Lake told Coupons in the News. “But we did have those coupons.” Lake had the presence of mind to save examples of every counterfeit coupon that was confiscated, “for training, or maybe a display somewhere” – never imagining they’d end up in a museum. So after getting clearance from the brands whose coupons were counterfeited, he provided several of the counterfeits to Alcatraz East.
The Coupon Information Corporation also assisted with providing the counterfeit samples for display, along with crime scene photos from when the search warrants were served. “We were happy to help the museum,” CIC Executive Director Bud Miller told Coupons in the News. “We hope the thousands of people who see the exhibit learn about the gritty reality of counterfeit coupons.”
It’s hard for coupons to compete with gangsters, serial killers, and the other lurid tales of violent crime featured in the museum’s various displays. But counterfeiting, while not necessarily as sensational, is a crime, too – so there’s certainly a place for it in a museum about crime. “These kinds of crimes matter,” Lake said. Coupon counterfeiting “makes a great Hollywood story, but in reality, it’s actually pretty devastating.”
“It is not glamorous, it is not funny, and the consequences can be devastating,” Miller echoed. “Criminals may benefit themselves for some time, but they often end up losing everything.”
In fact, Ramirez ended up serving two years behind bars, police confiscated the big-ticket purchases the women bought with the proceeds of their crime, and all three of them were ordered to pay more than a million dollars to the brands whose coupons they counterfeited.
So crime can actually pay – if, that is, you’re a museum whose displays about gangsters, murderers and now coupon counterfeiters attracts enough curious customers in a busy tourist town that welcomes some 10 million visitors a year. For everyone else, you’re better off ensuring that the closest you ever get to counterfeit coupons is seeing them behind glass – and learning the lessons that others ended up learning the hard way.
