News Article

Medford, OR

March 28, 2010

AP - A recent wave of electronics store robberies seems to have ended in an act of what the FBI is tentatively calling "a potential act of domestic terrorism." In Parkston, a small town five miles west of Medford, Oregon, the towns' one and only electronics store, "Dave and Tom's Beeper Town" was destroyed in what investigators originally believed to be a gas line explosion. As utility workers and fireman sifted through the rubble, it was announced that Tom Austin, one of the owners and employees had, according to neighbors, been at work and could have been in the building at the time. As clean up efforts transitioned to rescue efforts, new information soon came forward.

A garbled phone message from Tom, from an early morning phone call to his best friend and co-owner Dave Evenston indicated not only that Tom seemed to have been in the store around the time of the explosion, but that others might have been in the store with him.

Before police could demand the message be kept secret, local television station KKTV released the audio of the message on local television. The intelligible parts of the phone message (which was highly distorted with electronic pings and screeches garbling much of what was said) included these words from Tom Austin:

" . . . some odd looking people here, wanted to know what we had . . . told them that we only carried beepers and pagers and if they wanted something more advanced . . . seemed pretty upset with me, but I mean they were calling our beepers "inferior technology" or something. And THEN they started threatening me . . . "assimilation" and "resistance" and who knows what else . . . thought maybe I ought to call the police, but that you'd like to hear it from me . . . doing back here?! Thought I told you two to . . . ave! Dave they're destroying everyth . . . the police! Call anyone . . . do you want with me?! Stop! No! Sto . . . ."

The FBI, which has already been investigating the rash of electronic store robberies throughout Washington and Oregon, together with the missing electronic store employees, have stated that they will call in the Department of Homeland Security to aid in the investigation.