Last May a number of law enforcement officers converged upon a house in rural Douglas County for a raid.

Special Agent Randy Slater of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office testified in court on Tuesday that he was present during the raid alongside a representative of the United States Department of Homeland Security and others.

The law enforcement agents weren’t looking for drugs, guns, cash or an underground fight club.

Rather they were looking for soap. Laundry detergent, to be precise.

The officials were concerned that Brian Glenn, owner and operator of Clean Start Soap Sales, was selling laundry detergent in his home and falsely presenting it as Tide-brand detergent.

Dozens of buckets of the detergent were seized during the raid, and now Glenn faces a single felony count of counterfeiting in Douglas County District Court.

Wednesday morning Glenn appeared in court for a preliminary hearing where witnesses offered testimony to Judge Paula Martin, who will consider whether Glenn should face a criminal trial.

Slater was one of those who testified. He said he went undercover and visited Glenn’s home in rural Baldwin City in April.

There, Slater said Glenn gave him a small sample of detergent labeled “T.O.” for “Tide Original.”

At one point in the conversation Glenn referred to the products as “Tide-like,” Slater said. But the distinction wasn’t specifically made again as they spoke.

When asked by defense attorney Cooper Overstreet, Slater acknowledged that Glenn made no attempts to make his business a secret, nor did he believe he was selling a fake or inferior product.

Slater said he believed Glenn sold the detergents, among other products, at a local flea market, to individuals, and he distributed them to other salespeople.

Lynne Miller, senior counsel for Proctor & Gamble, the company that owns Tide, testified Wednesday morning alongside Slater.

Miller said her work focuses on trademark infringement and counterfeiting issues. She was also present during the May raid on Glenn’s house.

Approximating the suggested retail price for Tide, Miller said the dozens of five-gallon buckets of detergent seized from Glenn’s home would be worth more than $3,000.

At no time did Glenn ever obtain a license to use Tide’s trademark, called The Bullseye, Miller said.

In addition, Sol Escobar, a senior engineer for Proctor & Gamble, testified that the detergent Glenn was selling was significantly different from the company’s authentic Tide products.

Overstreet and prosecutor Steven Karrer did not make closing arguments during Wednesday’s hearing. Rather, citing the complicated legal references they anticipated would come up, they requested that Martin allow them to submit written arguments.

Martin granted the request and scheduled the hearing to continue on March 24 at 1:30 p.m., when she will announce her decision on whether Glenn will face a criminal trial.

I report on crime and courts for the Journal-World. I can be reached by email at cswanson@ljworld.com, by phone at (785) 832-7284 or on Twitter @Conrad_Swanson.