Galls Inc. is Subject of Homeland Security, Customs Service Search Warrant
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- A Lexington business that supplies military and police equipment was raided Wednesday by federal authorities, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for Washington, D.C. said.
Several agencies executed a federal search warrant at Galls Inc. on Palumbo Drive, U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman Channing Phillips said.
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, criminal investigators from the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security and agents from the Defense Department Criminal Investigative Service were serving a search warrant at the business, according to Dean Boyd, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The three agencies typically investigate cases involving unauthorized exports. Phillips declined to say what federal officers were looking for, saying the search warrant was sealed.
Galls is the world’s largest mail-order supplier of uniforms and equipment to public safety professionals, according to its Web site. The site says it distributes equipment such as night vision goggles and bulletproof vests.
The Lexington store has been in business for 35 years. Galls has two other locations in California, according to its Web site.
Phillips said the raid involved only the Lexington location.
Officials at Aramark, parent company of Galls, were not immediately available for comment. Calls to Galls in Lexington were greeted Wednesday with a recorded message saying the company was “experiencing technical difficulties.”
Outside Galls, employee Adarrell Owsley told The Associated Press that agents arrived about 8:30 a.m. EDT and told employees to go to one area of the building and stay there.
Owsley said employees were not given any details about what was going on. He said it was “a bunch of people in blue shirts.”
Owsley said he was told to come back to work Thursday.