“Barnes then took to Facebook where he posted a video admitting he was operating a pirate station and that the FCC could not stop him unless it “locked him up.””
The FCC tracked a pirate on 90.5 FM to a Portland church. Postings online say the church has gone dark for good, and the building owner is still on the hook. The other Oregon case took four years. Agents caught Thomas Barnes in 2018, 2019 and 2022, and each time he handed over a transmitter and went back on air. He posted more than 30 videos confessing before the FCC proposed an $80,000 fine.