NEWS: Flight Sim enquiry raises terror alert

A mother goes into a Staples store asking for Microsoft's Flight Simulator game for her 10 year old son. The clerk gets scared and contacts the police. Later on the woman gets a visit from a state trooper. What's wrong with this picture?

"A mother's enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state trooper. "

theregister.co.uk

So alarmed was the Staples clerk at the prospect of the ten year old learning to fly, that he informed the police

You have got to be kidding !!! ... Haven't these people ever heard of common sense ???
When I was a teen I bought a lunar landing game for my Spectrum ... but no one expected me to steal a real one from NASA and try landing it on the M1 !!! ... For fooks sake - someone needs a reality check !

That clerk should be bitch slapped for being so stupid. I would file a law suit against the store and the police department for harrasment.

The kid is ten years old, so common sense says that he actually has to get control of the plane before he can fly it wherever his weasly black heart desires. Hijacking a plane doesn't seem like something a 10 year old can do. Unless he's a mutant ten year old (X-Men style)... with a really big gun...

How did the police find out where they lived in the first place...

Originally posted by McGotti
How did the police find out where they lived in the first place...

Olearcek is a regular Staples customer and schools her son at home. The Staples manager simply explained that staff were obeying advice. Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of drivers with maps, or reference books

This paragraph leads me to believe they knew her.
Maybe she used a Credit Card, and they traced it from there, under the good ole **Patriot Act**