$20,000 Reward Offered in String of Hoax Bombs at Recruiting Office

The group uses the name "Die Weisse Rose" was the name of a small group of anti-Hitler activists in Germany during World War II.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - The FBI is offering up to a $10,000 reward to match the $10,000 reward offered by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for the identification, arrest and conviction of those responsible for a series of hoax bomb threats at military recruiting stations in Oregon.

A spokesperson for the FBI office in Portland says a total of four incidents date back almost a year.

On March 24th 2007, a hoax bomb device was found at a U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Salem, Oregon.

On May 10th 2007, A hoax bomb device was found at an Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Portland, Oregon.

On August 11th 2007, A hoax bomb device was found at an Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Astoria, Oregon.

The most recent incident happened on November 18th 2007, when a hoax bomb device was found at a U.S. Army Recruiting Center in Salem, Oregon.

The FBI's Beth Anne Steele, says that in each instance, local bomb squads responded and rendered the devices "safe". She says each hoax device had the words "DIE WEISSE ROSE" written or painted on it.

"Die Weisse Rose" is German for "the white rose."

Historically, "Die Weisse Rose" was the name of a small group of anti-Hitler activists in World War II Germany.

"The FBI takes bomb threats very seriously – whether or not the device is a hoax," said David Miller, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon.

"The threat of violence is real."

"The DCIS continues to work with the FBI to aggressively pursue information leading to the arrest of a subject(s) associated with these hoax bombings," said Richard Gwin, Special Agent in Charge of the DCIS Western Field Office.

"The White Rose" is the name of an anti-Hitler student activist group in Munich, Germany, most of whom were killed by 1943. The FBI says the group responsible for these hoax bombs has adopted the same name. This is a photo of one of the group's left behind messages, written in German in an apparent effort to emulate the anti-Nazi activists.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (503) 224-4181 twenty-four hours a day. The FBI will determine how to disperse its reward based on how the investigation unfolds. Likewise, DCIS will determine how to disperse its reward.

You can view the FBI’s Seeking Information flyer at fbi.gov/wanted/seekinfo/oregon.htm for more information.