FBI probes cell phone sales
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
- Aiken Public Safety officers and sheriff’s deputies unload a van in front
of Leveretts Shoe store Tuesday evening.
By JOHN MOORE Staff writer
The FBI is investigating a series of multiple pre-paid cell phone purchases
in Aiken Tuesday, but officials would not say whether the purchases were related
to terrorism.
Lt. Michael Frank of the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and Sgt. David Turno
of the Aiken Department of Public Safety confirmed that both organizations
assisted in the investigation, but referred all questions to the FBI.
Tom O’Neill, spokesperson for the FBI Columbia Division, said he was familiar
with what happened Tuesday in Aiken, but would not give specifics.
“In this day and age we follow up on all logical leads,” O’Neill said.
“That’s what we do with local law enforcement. This could be us following up on
a logical lead.”
O’Neill stressed that nobody was arrested Tuesday.
“We don’t anticipate any arrests (Tuesday),” O’Neill said. “It is FBI policy
that we put out releases and release information when we make an arrest.”
At around 6 p.m., scanner traffic indicated that officers were looking for a
red or burgundy van with North Carolina tags. The occupants were believed to be
of Middle Eastern descent, according to scanner traffic.
Throughout the afternoon, officers followed the vehicle to a number of
businesses, where the occupants were believed to have purchased TracFones, a
pay-as-you-go cell phone service that allows users to purchase cell phones and
air times without contracts.
Surveillance footage was requested from a Dollar General Store, according to
scanner traffic.
Officers from the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and Aiken Public Safety were
removing boxes and items from a full-sized red Ford van with North Carolina tags
in front of a business on Whiskey Road near the intersection of East Pine Log
Road at around 8 p.m.
It was not released whether the occupants of the van were taken into
custody.
A similar incident occurred in Brownsville, Texas, on June 8, where the FBI
investigated reports of men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent,
purchasing pre-paid phones and international phone cards from several
stores.
The Brownsville Herald newspaper reported that store employees told police
two men acquired at least 20 prepaid TracFone cell phones from four stores over
the course of a weekend.
FBI spokesman Jorge Cisneros told the paper similar cases were investigated
in the Rio Grande Valley.
Cisneros said the Rio Grande Valley case turned out to be convenience store
owners or merchants buying bulk amounts of phones and cards for resale in their
shops or home countries. There is no word of the status of the investigation in
Brownsville.
Police told the paper the men in Brownsville appeared to have thrown away the
packaging, computer chips and chargers to their cell phones, the same kind used
for detonation devices on bombs in the 2004 subway attack in Madrid, which
killed nearly 200 and injured 1,800.
Contact John Moore at jmoore@aikenstandard.com
