Feds: Columbus-area car dealership owner pleads guilty to importing counterfeit airbags

A 35-year-old Columbus man pleaded guilty to a federal charge, admitting that he imported counterfeit airbags from China and sold them at his Columbus-area auto dealership while claiming they were genuine Honda airbags.

John Bojorquez pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, prosecutors said. A sentencing date for Bojorquez was not immediately announced.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Chicago O’Hare International Airport seized 20 counterfeit Honda airbags in August 2024 that had been shipped from China. The boxes, which falsely claimed to contain “desktop night lights,” were addressed to Bojorquez at JB Ohio Auto Sale in Galloway.

Federal prosecutors said that in May 2025, law enforcement executed a search warrant at JB Ohio Auto Sale in Galloway. Investigators seized multiple counterfeit airbags, including some piled in a clothes hamper and covered with a towel, officials said.

Prosecutors said Bojorquez admitted to intentionally trafficking in at least 44 counterfeit airbags between August 2024 and May 2025.

According to the feds, the Chinese shipper sent four other similar shipments of counterfeit Honda airbags in August 2024. The shipments were labeled as “desktop night lights” or “blue desktop nightlights,” according to prosecutors.