"It's business as usual today," said Kristine Grow, spokeswoman for Aramark Corp., which owns Galls, a major supplier of uniforms and equipment for police, paramedics and the military.
Grow said Aramark had no more information about the reason for the raid than it did on Wednesday when it said Galls had been told by the U.S. Department of Commerce that the investigation involved "its record-keeping and documentation of certain export sales."
A more detailed explanation is in an affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for the raid, but the affidavit remained sealed yesterday.
A spokeswoman for Principal Assistant U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips in Washington, D.C., said the items seized at Galls had to be inventoried and a report filed with U.S. District Court in Lexington before the affidavit could be unsealed. No report had been filed here at the end of business yesterday.
Observers, including Galls former owner Alan Bloomfield, said they were mystified.
"There's not a thing I can tell you about this," said Bloomfield, who left Galls more than seven years ago. "I'm shocked."
Others are, too, Bloomfield said. "I'm getting calls from all over the country" about the raid.
"I'm sure it's something serious," he added, "or they wouldn't have brought on all that firepower."
Agents from several agencies swooped down on Galls' two Lexington locations about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Employees said they were told to leave their work areas while the search was conducted, but agents were seen removing documents and electronic equipment.
The agencies involved included the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, and the Defense Department's Criminal Investigative Service. The federal agents were accompanied by Kentucky State Police.
Meanwhile, Lexington's WLEX-TV reported that two former Galls employees, identified as Joe Hainen and Debbie Rawlins, said they noticed shipments of military items to Iran and other countries while they worked for Galls.
Rawlins said managers told her not to be concerned about it.
"I'd see, like, night vision goggles going over to other countries and I'd be like, why are they sending this stuff over there?" she told WLEX-TV. "Who are these people getting all of this? I'd go to a manager and they would say, 'don't worry about it.'"
The Herald-Leader was unable to locate Hainan or Rawlins for interviews.
The federal government restricts exports of certain items to Afghanistan, Angola, Cuba, Libya, Iran, North Korea, Rwanda, Sudan and Syria, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Shipments of military items or technology to Iran have been frequent targets of federal raids and investigations in recent years.
According to news reports, shipments of aircraft parts to Iran were targeted in San Antonio, Texas, in 2003 and Norfolk, Va., in 1998. Earlier, raids targeted California companies that might have sold communications technology and oscilloscopes to Iran.
Galls sells many types of military and public service uniforms and accessories as well as medical equipment, body armor, night-vision devices, protective equipment against chemical and biological weapons, and telescopic sights for military rifles.
Products can be purchased through Galls stores in Lexington and California or ordered by mail, telephone or the Internet.
Galls' operations in California, where the company has 200 employees, were not included in Wednesday's raid.
Galls traces its roots to 1902 when the company was founded by Phillip Gall as a downtown Lexington pawn shop. Later, Gall added camping gear, apparel and police equipment to his inventory.
In 1983, as Galls prepared to move out of downtown, the police equipment business was sold to Bloomfield.
The Gall family kept the camping and outdoor apparel part of the company, which became Phillip Gall's Outdoor and Ski in the Woodhill Shopping Center. Today, that store is owned by Steven Gall and is not affiliated with Galls Inc.
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