Wake the Lakes “Moron Lawbreaker of the Week” 10-3-23

A man is due in court this week accused of stealing a Border Patrol gun and ammunition to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. Austin Giger, 30, of Tigard, Oregon, crossed into Canada before breaking into a U.S. border post. When caught loading up with weapons and ammunition, he claimed to be a Border Patrol agent but later said he was a civilian and was preparing himself for a zombie apocalypse, according to the criminal complaint filed by the prosecutors. He is charged with unlawful possession of ammunition and theft of government property. Giger had walked through the front doors of the border post and started going through rooms looking for weapons. He allegedly took two ballistic vests worth $3,000 each, a radio worth $5,000, a Border Patrol jacket worth $200, $20 worth of ammunition, $20 of pepper spray, and a $30 ammunition magazine. A Border Patrol agent at a post near Lynden, Washington, responded to an alarm in an office around 1:00 a.m. on August 28 and found Giger wearing a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) jacket, name tag, and body armor. When asked what he was doing, he told officers he had just finished work as a Border Patrol officer and pointed to the stolen vest. He claimed to be a Border Patrol officer until an agent checked his Oregon ID and confirmed that he was not an employee. Giger was arrested at the Border Patrol office and taken to jail. Border Patrol agents found that the defendant had an extensive criminal history—including felony convictions—in Oregon and had been on probation since early April. The Washington County Circuit Court in Oregon had previously charged him with unlawful use of a vehicle, burglary in the second degree, and two counts of criminal mischief in the first degree.