westone COMPLETE AUTO CARE” Attn: Customers and Neighbors You may have noticed a man, John @agmmlm, demonstrating outside our Watertown, MA store recently. Mi has been holding signs that say such things as "Firestone Guilty of Child Rape at Watertown Store.” The messages on his signs are false, and we would like to provide our customers and neighbors with additional information about this situation. The facts are that in 1960 Mr. SlIMp was 15 years old and was hitchhiking. He contends that he was picked up by someone driving a truck that allegedly had the word Firestone on it and was driven to a remote. area where he was sexually assaulted. Police and court records indicate the perpetrator pled guilty to a crime and went to prison. In September of 2009, nearly 50 years after the incident, Mr. SINE contacted our company demanding a significant monetary payment. We carefully investigated the incident he described. What we know based on a review of public records is that the incident occurred at a site not linked to our Watertown, MA store or our company. After a thorough search of our records, we have found no indication that the perpetrator, who is now deceased, was ever an employee of Firestone. Further, even if the assailant had been a Firestone employee, neither Firestone nor Bridgestone Americas, Firestone’s parent company, would be responsible for his criminal conduct. Because our review of this situation has shown that our company was in no way responsible for the incident, we declined to pay Mr. QM. As a result of our decision not to pay, Mr. (MMMM threatened to tarnish our reputation and cause our Watertown store to close. He is now following through on those threats. We apologize for any inconvenience, disruption, or undue concer this man has caused. To our many new and continuing customers, we would like to thank you for your support and words of encouragement. If you have any questions about this situation, please email pr@bfrc.com. Hee