I Feel A Whole Lot Safer Now....Don't You?!?!?

Homeland Security Agents Chase Down Toy Knockoffs

ST. HELENS, Ore. -- Toy store owner Stephanie Cox didn't think she was harboring any terrorist toys.

So she said she was shaking in her shoes when she got a call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Two agents stopped by her store, Pufferbelly Toys, in St. Helens, Ore.

Pufferbelly Toys in St. Helens is not exactly the kind of place you would expect someone to be passing state secrets.

The agents weren't after sleeper cells. It turns out, the agents wanted toys. Specifically, a toy called the Magic Cube, which the agents said was an illegal copy of one of the most popular toys of all time -- the Rubik's Cube.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint.

The store's owner Stephanie Cox was told to remove all of the offending cubes from her shelves. She did -- as they stood by watching.

But the experience unnerved her.

Cox said, "I was shaking in my shoes."

After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy's trademark.

Cox is still scratching her head over her brush with Homeland Security. She asked, "Aren't there any terrorists out there?

SOURCE:Associated Press/Channel 3000.com