The following transcript is a public document, published in court records and by Willamette Week. “Rex” is the alias Jeffrey Hauser used to identify himself when speaking to the Portland Police.
“Rex”: Hey Nate.
SHROPSHIRE: Hey.
“Rex”: This is Rex. How ya doing?
SHROPSHIRE: Good.
“Rex”: Calling back from Bend here.
SHROPSHIRE: Yeah.
“Rex”: How was your little excursion?
SHROPSHIRE: Oh, it was OK. I just didn't have enough people to help me do what I need to do because we had two houses next door growing outdoor plants, and so I got one, OK? And then other ones--they were like 11 two-inch dead clones [marijuana seedlings] almost in the back yard--and we just went over and grabbed and said, "Forget it. Forget it."
“Rex”: Do you get a lot of the outdoor stuff over there?
SHROPSHIRE: No, not really.
“Rex”: Really?
SHROPSHIRE: Sometimes, you know, in the summer, but for the most part, we don't. All of their stuff is indoors.
“Rex”: Sure. I know. I didn't think you had time to do anything on that, but I wanted to call back and see when...how long it might take you to get that information.
SHROPSHIRE: It will just take me...ahhh...long enough to run through the...ahhh...I have all that stuff on disk.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: If it's there I'll, ahhh, bring it up.
“Rex”: What does that mean. You got a disk?
SHROPSHIRE: I have a disk that I get sent from, actually I download, ahh, what I'm doing is I have this company who is a...they sell indoor growing stuff.
“Rex”: Oh, OK.
SHROPSHIRE: Basically. And what we did in 1995...I started investigating it, actually before that, but we wrote a trap and trace order on their phone number, so everybody who calls into their phone number is trapped and then I, you know, write in that court order. I've got information from US West.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: We simply download every week via computer.
“Rex”: Really...
SHROPSHIRE: ...and all that information so then I take that information [and] run it through the power companies.
“Rex”: Umm, OK.
SHROPSHIRE: And then those, you know...we just go from there.
“Rex”: Sure.
SHROPSHIRE: And I, ahh, you know, ahh, a lot of it [how we choose whom to target] has to do with age of people, type of power, type of house.
“Rex”: Sure.
SHROPSHIRE: You know. You have a lot of people look at it, and for the most part, we start all our investigatioShropshire: that way, and ahh, go from that to a knock and talk.
“Rex”: So, ahh, the shop is actually working with you.
SHROPSHIRE: Ohh, no, no, no...
“Rex”: Oh.
SHROPSHIRE: They have no clue.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: They have no clue that we are trapping the phone numbers.
“Rex”: Oh, OK.
SHROPSHIRE: So, ahh...
“Rex”: No, I remember hearing that there was two or three light shops over there.
SHROPSHIRE: There's...there's, yeah, there's American Agriculture, Light Manufacturing, and...ahh...Rain or Shine.
“Rex”: Oh, OK. I think I've heard that one before.
SHROPSHIRE: And ahh...you know...
“Rex”: And you've got all three of those.
SHROPSHIRE: No. I just have the one, American Agriculture. I have done the Light Manufacturing, but it wasn't as profitable.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: Theirs is pretty much smaller, you know, ahh, personal use, hydroponic growers.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: So that means that we don't have that one going. We do have the one going right now at American Ag.
“Rex”: So you worked it out with US West? That's great.
SHROPSHIRE: Well, I have a court order that allows me to do it. I, ahh, you know, every 30 days I re-up that court order.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: And, ahh, so, get the information back and that's when we start passing it off. I mean, if it's in Bend and if it's places where we're not going to get to...
“Rex”: Sure. You pass it on.
SHROPSHIRE:...Through DOJ [the Department of Justice] we'll pass them off, and if I know somebody in a particular area, I'll call them and say, "Hey, we got this going, and this is the way, this is how we got it."
“Rex”: Sure.
SHROPSHIRE: Don't, you know...try not to use it in an affidavit.
“Rex”: Sure.
SHROPSHIRE: We have not ever referred to the trap in our affidavits.
“Rex”: OK.
SHROPSHIRE: And...ahh...you know, if we, if that's all we had, then we probably wouldn't, you know...
“Rex”: Correct. Then you would just build it off of there.
SHROPSHIRE: That's, yeah, we just go from there, but ahh...
“Rex”: With their 800 number, you probably get calls all over the country.
SHROPSHIRE: Well, we don't trap their 800 number. What we do is order calls...
“Rex”: Ohh, OK.
SHROPSHIRE: It's an interesting thing.
“Rex”: Ohh...
SHROPSHIRE:: Yeah, you're right. I mean, the last time we did that, we had...I mean the stack of paper was like a half of ream, and we did...we sent that to DOJ and the DOJ disseminated the information all over the place. They got some guy down in California as a result of that.
“Rex”: Keeping them busy.
SHROPSHIRE: Yeah.
“Rex”: That's fantastic. Well, I have to take off tomorrow. Umm...why don't I get back to you on Friday. Are you going to be around on Friday?
SHROPSHIRE: No.
“Rex”: No, OK, why don't I give you a call mid-week.
SHROPSHIRE: OK.
“Rex”: We are in no big hurry and I appreciate everything.
SHROPSHIRE: OK.
“Rex”: And I'll give you a call probably Wednesday.
SHROPSHIRE: OK. What was your phone number?
“Rex”: My number is 388-5551. And I will give you a buzz on Wednesday. I appreciate everything that you've done.
SHROPSHIRE: You bet.
“Rex”: Alright, sir.
SHROPSHIRE: Alright.
“Rex”: Take it easy.
SHROPSHIRE: Bye.
“Rex”: Bye.