Must Read
* * * DMPG FEATURED ARTICLES * * *
Civil Lawsuit
June 19, 2006
Civil Lawsuit Filed Against Vincent Pitts
President of National Field Selling Association
NFSA
A civil lawsuit has been filed against Vincent Pitts (president of the National Field Selling Association)
and owner of Palmetto Marketting, Inc. (palmettomarketinginc.com)
in response to the brutal beating and rape of a 50 year-old Menomonie, Wisconsin Woman on July 1, 2005.
STATE OF WISCONSIN
CIRCUIT COURT
DUNN COUNTY
Ms.x
Menomonie, WI 54751
Plaintiff,
Wisconsin Department of Justice
Crime Victim Compensation Program
17 West Main Street
P.O. Box 7951
Madison, WI 53708-7951
and
Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire County
2503 North Hillcrest Parkway
Altoona, WI 54720
Subrogated Parties.
Case No:
Case Codes: 30106, 30107
vs.
Vincent Pitts, an Individual
7522 Wiles Road, Suite 112
Coral Springs, FL 33067
Palmetto, Marketing, Inc., a Florida Corporation
7522 Wiles Road, Suite 112
Coral Springs, FL 33067
Sunshine Subscription Agency, Inc., a Florida Corporation
7522 Wiles Road, Suite 112
Coral Springs, FL 33067
Robert Cecil, an Individual
7522 Wiles Road, Suite 112
Coral Springs, FL 33067
Tina Michelle Cecil, an Individual
7522 Wiles Road, Suite 112
Coral Springs, FL 33067
Gemini Subscriptions, Inc., a Florida Corporation
7522 Wiles Road, Suite 112
Coral Springs, FL 33067
Brandon Green, an Individual
Dunn County Jail
615 Stokke Parkway
Menomonie, WI 54751
Read The Criminal Complaint Againsit Brandon Lee Green
Read The Civil Lawsuit Against Vincent Pitts
|
Civil RICO
January 7, 2005
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF ORANGE
CENTRAL JUSTICE CENTER
DANIEL WILKINSON, an individual;
STEPHANIE LAURITO, an individual; and
MARCUS HENKHAUS, an individual, on behalf
of themselves and all others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
HY-PRO CHEMICAL PRODUCTS, INC., a
Texas corporation; EDGE SALES, INC., a Texas
corporation; JOSEPH w. EDGE, an individual;
and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive,
Defendants.
COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES
AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
|
August 19, 2004
If It's Not One Pitch, It's Another
Do Not Call List Boosts Door-to-Door Sales
You could call it a knock-knock joke on consumers.
Homeowners irritated by mealtime marketing calls
may have inadvertently brought back the door-to-door salesman.
BY TOM DURANTE
Long Island Press
longislandpress.com
Read This Story
May 24, 2004
Pitts Sales Sues Inside Edition
For Hidden Camera/Racketeering
Read Federal Complaint - PDF Format
May 17, 2004
Knock Knock
Desperate, young magazine peddlers are out there,
roaming America in search of the next sucker.
Have you been conned?
By Rupal Parekh
The New York Review of Magazines
Read This Story
April 4, 2004
Former magazine seller shares stories of life on the road
By BRIGID O'MALLEY
Naples Daily News
Read This Story
April 4, 2004
Traveling sales crews alarm law enforcement agencies
By BRIGID O'MALLEY
Naples Daily News
Read This Story
Febuary 3, 2004
EXPLOITED YOUNGSTERS SELLING MAGAZINES
DOOR-TO-DOOR MAKE SALES COMPANIES RICH:
AN INSIDE EDITION INVESTIGATION
Youngsters abuse drugs while driving in vans,
party in motels every night,
and are exploited by managers
Inside Edition
Read This Story
January 4, 2004
When crime knocks
Door-to-door sales industry has few regulations regarding employees
Knoxville News-Sentinel
Read This Story
June 30, 2003
The hazards of door-to-door sales
Solicitors are often young people working in unfamiliar places.
philly.com
By Dwayne Campbell and Amie Parnes
Inquirer Staff Writers
Read This Story
__________________________________________
* * *Traveling Sales Crews Criminal Chronology * * *
A History Of Tragedy And Carnage
Innocent Children, Teens, Young Adults, And Homeowners
Are Maimed, Raped, Robbed, And Murdered
As The Door To Door Traveling Sales Industry
Continues To Profit.
__________________________________________
2005
July 7, 2005
Who's there ?
A troubling case raises questions about solicitors
By KEN WOOD
Sun Newspapers
Read Complete Story
Data Source:
Menlo Park California Police
Case Number: 040121071
Twinsberg Ohio Police Department
Case Number: 0414626
Synopsis:
Derrick Todd Jones two time convicted sexual offender
selling magazines door to door.
Unified Stars
Go Doers
American Community Services, Inc.
Selling Magazines Door to Door
2004
August 12, 2004
Man admits he molested 9-year-old El Cajon girl
Maurice Andre Thomas Sexually Assaults 9 Year Old Girl
Data Source: El Cajon Police Report
Court No.: CE238576
Synopsis: Defendant is a traveling salesman charged
with nine felony counts including child molestation
of a 9-year-old El Cajon girl in her apartment on 3/16/04.
Victim says she was forced into her apartment,
held against her will and sexually assaulted.
Services Unlimited Plus
Selling Magazines Door to Door
June 15, 2004
Traveling Magazine Salesman Azriel Rashad Bridge
Murders Shirley Reuter.
Shirley Reuter was found beaten and stabbed on the floor
of her suburban New Jersey home.
New Jersey murder has Michiana ties
Bridge is being held on a $500,000 bond,
has outstanding warrents in Illinois,
and is also being charged with robbery.
June 15, 2004
Man Did Not Undergo Background Check
Chicago Murder Suspect Had Previous Warrant
CHICAGO -- Shirley Reuter, 77, was found beaten and stabbed to death
on the floor of her New Jersey home, and on Monday 18-year-old
Azriel Bridge, of Chicago, was arraigned in court, charged with her murder.
Phoenix Imagery, Inc.
American Community Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
April 21, 2004
Man charged with murder in magazine saleswoman's death
Read Complete Story
RAPID CITY -- A 41-year-old Rapid Valley man was charged early Tuesday
with murdering a 21-year-old woman who came to his home last week to sell magazines.
Neil Frame, 3030 Gypsey Road, faces first-degree murder charges in the death of Kristina Moore
of Lancaster, Calif. Moore disappeared Wednesday evening while working for a door-to-door
magazine crew in the Rapid Valley area where Frame lived.
Moore's body was found Friday morning in a field near Hermosa.
During a news conference Tuesday morning, city, county and state law-enforcement
officers said autopsy results showed that Moore had suffered a blow to the head but
died of asphyxiation from strangulation.
When she was found Friday, she still had a plastic zip tie around her neck,
Pennington County State's Attorney Glenn Brenner said.
There also were indications on the body that a stun gun might have been used, Brenner said.
Imperial Sales
Liberator Sales
Pacific Coast Clearing Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
2003
September 14, 2003
"Jones said he worked 80 hours a week,
was cheated out of commissions and worked
in a culture of drug use and violence."
Magazine sales work ends in tale of terror
Great Lakes Circulation
Selling Magazines Door to Door
June 15, 2003
Fifteen people were crammed into the 1992 Chevrolet Suburban
when it rolled over on a lonely stretch of U.S. Highway 666
about five miles north of Shiprock, N.M., just before noon
last Sept. 20. Two teenage girls were killed.
Deaths nothing new for sales crews
Atlantic Circulation Inc.
Selling Magazines Door to Door
2002
July 29, 2002
Magazine Sales Company Settles
With Murder Victim's Family For $1 Million
Diane Cooper Murdered
Diane Cooper's daughters Monday morning
signed a $1 million settlement of their lawsuit
against Palmetto Marketing, Inc., the Florida-based
company whose employee murdered Cooper in May of 2000.
Cooper was murdered in her Fulton home by Matthew Maxson,
a door-to-door magazine salesman.
Police believe Cooper had let the young man into her home.
She was stabbed with a knife and with a broken bottle.
DeGeorge Sales
Palmetto Marketing
Selling Magazines Door to Door
September 03, 2002
Door To Door Magazine Salesman Michael Roland Poissant
Charged With Two Counts of Rape, Kidnapping,
Abduction And Aggravated burglary.
Salesman allegedly rapes 12-year-old
Man was selling magazines door-to-door
Suspect drops plea
Salesman accused of raping young girl decides to face jury
Palmetto Marketing
Selling Magazines Door to Door
June 26, 2002
Door-To-Door Salesman Accused Of Rape
Man Entered Home After Asking For Water, Police Say
Deon Bowens Rapes 14 Year Old Girl
PITTSBURGH -- A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped
while babysitting a 1-year-old in Dormont.
Austin Diversified Products
Selling Cleaner Products Door to Door
2001
August 22, 2001
Traveling Magazine Salesman Rodger Eric Broadway
Rapes And Murders Knoxville Tennessee Woman.
Police capture man charged with murder of local woman
The Real Deal
American Community Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
April 19, 2001
Two young Douglas County Colorado girls ages 12 and 13
are sexually assaulted by traveling magazine salesmen
Dwayne Taylor and Maurice Rogers
Two Clarke Farms teens sexually assaulted by magazine salesmen
Magazine salesman convicted of assault
American Community Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
2000
June 05, 2000
Five Traveling Door To Door Magazine Salesmen
Brutally Beat Brett D. King To Death.
Allen County Indiana Coroner determines that Brett D. King died
as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
Magazine sales: No fun in sun
Teens, young adults often trapped in web of drugs, death
Youthful salesman's long regret
Convicted of murder, he now wishes he had listened to his mother
New River Subscription Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
March 18, 2000
Frustrated Families Confronting Publishers
Sales crews still dying as reform stalls
The Death Toll Climbs
World Wide Circulation
Palmetto Marketing
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1999
August 7, 1999
Blame Publishers, Not Young Salespeople
Article By The Director Of Parent Watch
May 6, 1999
Toxic chemicals demonstrated orally by young, eager sales force
The Examiner On-Line
By Jerry Jordan
Read This Story
Hy-Pro Chemical
Joseph Edge
Selling Cleaner Products Door to Door
April 29, 1999
Rock ‘n roll’ sales job: Drugs and booze abound
The Examiner On-Line
By Jerry Jordan
Read This Story
Hy-Pro Chemical
Joseph Edge
Selling Cleaner Products Door to Door
March 25, 1999
Seven Die And Five Are Maimed For Life
Traveling Magazine Sales Crew Van Crash
Janesville Wisconsin - March 25, 1999
Youth Employment Services/Subscriptions Plus, Inc.
New Company Names:
Services Unlimited Plus
Subscription Services
National Magazine Services
CIRCULATION I, INC
CIRCULATION II, INC
National Community Clearing, INC
PRAETORIAN
PLATINUM SALES
PARAGON SALES
MAJESTIC SALES
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1998
November 8, 1998
DeMers was critically injured and not breathing
Beaten Near Death By
Jeremy Delano Kincaid and James Larry Ransom
In the shadow of violence
Assault occured on August 12, 1998
American Community Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
March 6, 1998
WOMAN RAPIST SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS:
Abstract (Article Summary)
When Bridgette Latrice Brown, 23, knocked on the door of a Seattle woman's home
and told her she was selling magazines to help get kids off the streets,
the woman believed her. But when Brown asked the woman to take her to a motel,
then grabbed a knife and threatened to take her life . . . the woman was shocked.
"I have never seen a stranger case," said King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor
Kathy Goater, who heads the special assault unit. "A forcible rape of a woman by
another woman? It rarely happens. In the context of a strange rape, I've never
seen one like this before."
RONALD K. FITTEN.
Seattle Times. Seattle, Wash.: Mar 6, 1998.
Seattle Times Archive Link:
WOMAN RAPIST SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1997
October 26, 1997
Friend's death in crash still disturbs ex-seller
From the Journal Sentinel
Meg Kissinger
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Aug. 1, 1999.
Read The Complete Story
Angel Trevino is haunted by the memories of holding her friend
who lay dying along the highway.
The two had been on a crew together for eight months
at All-Star Promotions, a magazine subscription
sales company based in Pilot Point, Texas. They had been working
in Destin, Fla., and had left just after midnight Oct. 26, 1997, on
their way back to Texas. It had begun to rain as they were driving
through Jackson, Miss., at about 9 that morning. The van swerved as the
driver tried to pass another car, and rolled off the road,
throwing Amber Stankovich, 19, onto the pavement. Trevino's legs were crushed,
but she was conscious. She dragged herself through the shattered windshield.
The four others in the crash were shaken, but none was as bad off as Stankovich.
Trevino would tell an investigator for Parent Watch, an industry watchdog:
"We couldn't find Amber, because she was in a ditch. I finally saw her and wanted to go to her,
but there was this barbed wire in the way. The ambulance people brought her up and put her next to me.
They said she had a heartbeat but wasn't breathing. I started freaking out, but they told me to talk
to her and try to bring her back, that sometimes that helps."
All Star Promotions
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1996
September 5, 1996
Michael W. Grinnell and Jacob R. Russell
Beat To Death
Billy Joe Gilbert and Adam Chesnek
Traveling Salesmen Murdered
"Victims refused to participate in a robbery"
All Star Promotions
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1995
Dec 10, 1995
ELDERLY WOMAN ATTACKED BY SALESMAN, POLICE SAY
Orlando Sentinel; Orlando, Fla.; Dec 10, 1995;
See Article Abstracts: Dec. 10, 1995
A magazine salesman revisited the apartment of an 88-year-old woman
who turned down a subscription and attacked her, police said Saturday.
Samuel A. Erby, 20, was arrested a few minutes after the assault Wednesday.
He was in jail Saturday, charged with injury to an elderly person.
Police said the salesman tried to suffocate the woman with her scarf.
Then he tried to smother her with his hand as she fought him and screamed.
He ran away and a neighbor called 911.
Police found the woman lying on the floor near her front door.
She was treated for cuts and bruises.
Selling Magazines Door to Door
Sept. 29, 1995
JUDGE SENTENCES MAN IN KILLING
GUNMAN GETS 100-YEAR TERM FOR 1995 SHOOTING
Chanuncey Watts
a.k.a. Chauncey Whitehead
Additional Charges:
Criminal Attempt To Commit Murder,
First-Degree Assault
Criminal Use Of A Firearm
AND
Aug 13, 1998
SUSPECT CHARGED IN HOTEL SHOOTING
Chanuncey Whitehair
In Crowd
Chapel Sales, Inc
Selling Magazines Door to Door
July 15, 1995
Firm illegally selling magazines door-to-door here settles lawsuit
Janet Kelley; Lancaster New Era. Lancaster, Pa.; July 15, 1995;
See Article Abstracts: July 15, 1995
A Washington business and its president have paid $5,000 to settle accusations
stemming from their involvement in the illegal door-to-door sale of magazine
subscriptions in southcentral Pennsylvania.
The defendants also agree to make restitution both to consumers who didn't get the
subscriptions they paid for and to sales personnel who didn't get promised salaries and bonuses.
A consent petition filed this week in Lancaster County Court identifies the defendants
as NCS Corp., Gig Harbor, Wash., and its president, William Gillespie.
In August 1992, the attorney general's office sued NCS and several other corporations.
Among other things, the lawsuit alleged that the defendants:
Charged consumers a $7 "processing fee" that wasn't adequately disclosed or explained.
Failed to properly register with the state.
NCS Corp., Gig Harbor, Wash.
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1994
June 23, 1994
SALESMAN IS CHARGED IN BOY'S STRANGULATION
First Degree Intentional Homicide
Child Abduction
Times - Picayune; New Orleans, La.;
See Article Abstracts: Jume 30, 1994
A door-to-door salesman is charged with strangling a 9-year-old boy
whose nude body was found a block away from his suburban home.
John James Smith, 19, of Carol Stream, Ill., was charged Monday in Circuit
Court with first-degree intentional homicide and child abduction in the
death of Jesse Hubatch of Franklin.
Hy-Pro Chemical
Hy-Pro Cleaner
Selling Cleaner Products Door to Door
For Further Information On Hy-Pro Chemical See:
Slaves to the sale
1993
November 4, 1993
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v.
RICHARD EUGENE CAGLE and MICHAEL PAUL SCOTT
First-Degree Felony Murder
Robbery With A Dangerous Weapon
Conspiracy To Commit Robbery
With A Dangerous Weapon
MICHAEL PAUL SCOTT
Sun Circulation
Selling Magazines Door to Door
March 3, 1993
Whittier Heights Stung By Assaults Of 4-Year-Old
A traveling magazine salesman is accused of luring a 4-year-old boy
into a restroom last Thursday at Whittier Elementary School and sexually
assaulting him. The suspect was arrested the next day and has been
charged with first-degree rape of a child.
Alex Tizon
Seattle Times
Seattle Times Archive Link:
Whittier Heights Stung By Assaults Of 4-Year-Old
Florida Based Magazine Sales Company
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1992
1992
Slaves to the sale
Nancy Stancill
Read these 'award winning' articles by Nancy Stancill.
The 'Slaves to the sales series' reveal a shocking
glimpse into the dark and murky past
of the ‘traveling door to door sales’ industry
and provides an excellent history of an unregulated and
immoral enterprise that continues to exploit young adults for profit.
Slaves to the sale
|
June 21, 1992
MAGAZINE SALES JOBS CALLED SLAVERY
TEENS REPORT TOILING 60 HOURS A WEEK FOR $7 A DAY IN PAY
Patroit News, Harrisburg PA.
By: George Weigel
Credit: NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Article Abstract:
"Travel. Make lots of money."
Those words in a newspaper help-wanted ad caught the eye of 19-year-old
Maxine Preston of Luzerne County, Pa.
Things sounded so good when Preston went for an interview at a local hotel
that she agreed to leave that same night on what she thought was the perfect job.
What followed was the worst three months of her life. Preston says she was taught
to lie to customers to make sales. She found herself knocking on doors six days a week
from 9 a.m. to as late as 2 in the morning.
MAGAZINE SALES JOBS CALLED SLAVERY
American Marketing Network
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1991
January 22, 1991
DOOR-TO-DOOR MAGAZINE SELLER JAILED AFTER RAPE
SCOTT HERHOLD, Mercury News Staff Writer
San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Article Abstract:
A 23-year-old Mississippi man who sold magazines door to door was in custody
at Santa Clara County Jail Thursday after being arrested on suspicion of
raping a woman in East San Jose.
Police said the man forced his way into the residence after the woman
-- described as being in her 20s -- opened her front door. Officers
would say only that the rape occurred about 3 p.m. Tuesday near White
Road and Cunningham Road. The man choked the victim and kicked her, raped
her and then fled out the rear of her house, police said.
Sgt. Greg Trapp said an officer responding to the call recognized the
description as resembling a magazine salesman in the same neighborhood.
Trapp said investigators then interviewed neighbors, who were able to
describe the man and the identity card he used to sell magazines.
After checking with the city's permit division, the police determined
that the man worked for American Community Services Inc.,
which sells a variety of magazines.
American Community Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1990
July 13, 1990
Magaizne salesman Darrin Whitman is found guilty
of murdering Bernice Clark.
See Article Abstracts
July 22, 1990
REGULATION OF SOLICITORS VIRTUALLY NIL OFFICIALS
REASSESS LOCAL LAWS IN WAKE OF WOBURN KILLING
January 18, 1991
Salesman found guilty of Woburn murder
Bernice Clark, 76, was found stabbed to death in her Senator Road home July 13.
Hours later, Darrin Whitman, an employee of an Indiana-based soliciting company,
was arrested by state and Woburn police and charged with the killing.
A Middlesex Superior Court jury deliberated approximately two hours before
finding that Darrin Whitman, 24, had killed Clark, a retired beautician,
with deliberate premeditation.
Whitman was one of a large group of young people brought into the
Woburn area last summer by American Community Services of Michigan City,
Ind., to sell magazines and had sold a subscription to Clark earlier in the day.
Evidence showed he later came back, made Clark undress and lie on the bed
before stabbing her four times, once in the heart.
American Community Services
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1989
July 6, 1989
Bakersfield, California
John Lee Holt rapes and murders a 65-year-old woman
who told him to leave.
The California Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty
given a door-to-door salesman who was convicted of murdering
a 65-year-old woman who told him to leave.
A Kern County Superior Court jury convicted John Lee Holt of robbery,
rape and murder in the 1989 incident, and the state court upheld the
decision in this automatic appeal.
venus.soci.niu.edu
Rick Halperin
AI-Texas
Posted May 19, 1997
John Lee Holt
Austin Diversified Products
Selling Household Cleaning Products Door to Door
1988
July 5, 1988
Carl M. McClellan Convicted Of First Degree Felony Rape
American Fork, Utah
McClellan was found guilty of raping
a 19 year-old deaf American Fork woman.
See Un-Posted News Article: August 31, 1988 - SALESMAN GUILTY OF AM.F. RAPE
Utah Dept. of Corrections:
Sex Offender Registry
Door-To-Door Salesman Selling Cleaner
1987
April 7, 1987
ABUSES BY DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES OUTFITS ALLEGED
DateLine: Washington
Media General News Service
By Steve Goldberg
Read This Story
Mecca Enterprises Inc.
Selling Magazines and Cleaner Products Door to Door
1985
December 22, 1985
SALES FIRMS ACCUSED OF EXPLOITING YOUTHS
Seattle Times; Seattle, Wash.; Dec 22, 1985;
DateLine: Portland
AP
Read This Story
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1984
June 17, 1984
Magazine Sales Enmesh Youths In Murky World
Magazine Sales Enmesh Youths In Murky World - Morning Call
Circulation Builders of America, Magnet International,
National Circulating Co., National Publishers Circulation House, Inc.,
North American Book Sales, Publishers Circulation,
Solar Circulation, Stargazer,
TICOA (Trans International Clearinghouse of America) Corp.,
Trade Tech International, U.S. Publishers,
U.S. Publishers Circulation, Inc.,
Youth of America,
Jo Edge
Selling Magazines Door to Door
1982
July 25, 1982
Suspect In Murder Had Criminal Past
View as PDF File
Aggravated Murder
Rape
Burglary
On August 19, 1982, David W. Steffen talked his way into
the home of a 19-year old Cincinnati woman. David Steffen,
a young door-to-door salesman, was selling a cleaner
product which was packaged by Hy-Pro Chemical.
The 19-year-old Cincinnati woman allowed
him in to give her a demonstration.
The Cincinnati woman watched as Steffen scrubbed the tile
under the sink.
When he stood up, Steffen brushed against her breast.
She started to scream. Steffen warned her to stop but she
continued. Steffen then beat her severely, ran into the
kitchen, found a paring knife and returned to the bathroom
where he raped her and cut her throat.
Steffen beat her, broke her nose, choked her and slashed
her throat 4 times. He left the home after raping her,
leaving her body for her mother to find.
For Further Information On Hy-Pro Chemical See:
Slaves to the sale
Hy-Pro Chemical
Selling Cleaner Products Door To Door
1978
March 8, 1978
Coming Out of the Shadows
Linda Bright's Murder
Selling Magazines
**** Archive ****
1964 - 1987 Archive
1964-1987
MEDIA COVERAGE
DOOR-TO-DOOR TRAVELING SALES CREWS
Media Coverage 1964 - 1987
Posted 03/12/05
Archives
August 17, 1958
Fugitive couple attack LAPD officer, August 17, 1958
The Daily Mirror
Larry Harnisch Reflects on L.A.'s Crime and Cops From 50 Years Ago
Read This Story
LA Times Blog
Posted 08/18/08
June 18, 1951
Slamming the Door
The Green River Ordinance
Time Magazine On-Line Archive
Posted 04/17/05
June 6, 1948
Buy – or Else
Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
Free Press on June 6, 1948
Buy – or Else
New York – (U.P.) – A Chicago magazine salesman,
Roy Simpson, was held on charges of stabbing a woman who refused to
buy a subscription.
Jan. 5-8, 1927
Magazine Salesman Chargerd With Murder
SHELBY COUNTY, TN - Newspapers
SALESMAN IS CHARGED WITH SLAYING NEGRO--R.L.GILMORE,33
SHELBY COUNTY, TN - Newspapers
The Memphis Press Scimitar Jan. 5-8, 1927
--------------------------------------
|
White Plains, New York
Magazine solicitor admits breaking into girlfriend's hotel room
Door-to-Door Sales Company:
Paragon Magazine Sales
Magazine Clearing House:
Midwest Clearing
January 6, 2009
Magazine solicitor admits breaking into girlfriend's hotel room
By Steve Lieberman
The Journal News
New York's Lower Hudson Valley
January 6, 2009
An Ohio magazine solicitor first charged with
trying to kill his girlfriend has pleaded
guilty to a lesser burglary count after she
refused to cooperate because she loved him,
prosecutors said.
The woman's affection for Donnell Preston means
he faces a year in the Rockland County jail
when sentenced for third-degree burglary for
breaking into her hotel room in May, Rockland
District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.
Preston, 28, and the 25-year-old woman, also
from Ohio, had a long-standing relationship and
have two children together, Ramapo police said.
Without the victim's testimony, prosecutors
dropped charges of second-degree attempted
murder and second-degree burglary against
Preston, Zugibe said.
"Counsel for the defendant provided this office
with letters from the victim stating that she
loved him and that she would not appear in
court against the defendant," Zugibe said.
Attempts to reach the woman by telephone and
certified letter failed, Zugibe said.
"She disconnected her cell phone and a letter
sent to her was returned undeliverable," Zugibe
said.
As part of his plea to the burglary charge,
Preston was promised a year in the county jail
when sentenced by state Supreme Court Justice
William Kelly.
No sentencing date has been scheduled, the
Rockland District Attorney's Office said.
Preston has been held in the county jail since
his arrest in May and likely will get time
served.
Ramapo Detective Lt. Brad Weidel said yesterday
that he was familiar with the plea agreement
and the reasoning behind the plea. He said it
would be inappropriate for him to comment.
Preston and his girlfriend were in Rockland in
May as part of a crew that was selling
magazines subscriptions door-to-door for
Tennessee-based Paragon magazine sales.
Preston was accused of breaking into her room
at the Montebello Holiday Inn and strangling
her until she became unconscious, Ramapo police
said.
They first argued, screaming and yelling at
each other, police said.
While yelling, Preston made comments to the
victim that officers later used as a basis for
charging him with attempted murder, police said
at the time.
The couple's magazine-selling colleagues heard
the screams and started banging on the room
door.
Preston then jumped out the second-story
window, about 15 feet off the ground. The woman
came to and was able to to get to the door and
let the other people in, police said.
She spoke to police and a description of
Preston was broadcast.
Ramapo officers found him behind the Drug Mart
in Airmont. He ran and officers lost him in the
woods.
Officers arrested Preston about three hours
after the attack. He was found between logs in
the woods behind the former Grand Union on the
northwest corner of Route 59 and Airmont Road.
Reach Steve Lieberman at slieberm@lohud.com or
845-578-2443.
By Steve Lieberman
The Journal News
New York's Lower Hudson Valley
lohud.com
White Plains, New York
Read This Story
|
Indiana
Amway Cult Youth Initiate's Deaths
Possibly Related to Sleep Deprivation
Door-to-Door Sales Company:
Amway Global
January 3, 2009
Amway Cult Youth Initiate's Deaths Possibly Related to Sleep Deprivation
Posted by quixtarisacult at 10:45 AM
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Recently four aspiring Amway Global youthful initiates of the business cult were killed on a
dangerous Indiana Toll Road. They had traveled to a convention for Amway cult members and were
returning home. Tragically, they went left of center across the median and were struck head
on by a large truck and tragically killed. For more background information on this tragedy,
click here.
In speaking with Phil Ellenbecker, who lost his own daughter, Mallinda Lillian Turvey,
in another accident that could have been avoided, the Janesville, Wisconsin Traveling
Sales Crew Tragedy. Phil reminded me that other factors could have been involved in the
Amway Youth's accident in addition to road conditions; he was of course referring to the
possibility that some form of impairment made the accident more likely to have occurred.
Being familiar with how Amway conventions (rallies) operate, the possibility that sleep
deprivation (routinely practiced by the cult) could have contributed to the Indiana
Toll Road Tragedy.
Since the 1999 Janesville Traveling Sales Crew Tragedy, which took seven lives and
badly injured five others, there have been a significant number of other traveling initiates
to one scheme or another killed on the road. Mr. Ellenbecker has taken it upon himself to
document for all time the increasing death toll, not only of automobile accidents, but of
folks who have been victimized in one form or another by door to door sales agents;
murders are not uncommon.
At the heart of the issue is the fact that all of these youths, whether traveling
sales crew agents or Amway Global cult initiates, are considered 'independents'.
This becomes a very convenient circumstance for the corrupt companies that
these youths claim to represent: Amway, and all the fly by night businesses that
send college youths out onto the road selling magazine subscriptions, Bibles and
any number of household goods.
Significantly, Amway Global/Quixtar misrepresents itself as another of these
door to door direct sales businesses, although they actually operate somewhat
differently than true door to door salesmen. They do, however log much time
behind the wheel of a vehicle, not only attending conferences, but late night
travels to or from recruitment meetings, open meetings, and 'nuts and bolts' gatherings.
I have expounded upon how Amway cultists are basically victimized by the folk who
they believe they are in business with. Not only do they go out on the road and
represent their Amway/Quixtar affair and themselves as a success, they commit the crime of fraud.
The 'independent' relationship that the traveling sales crews and the Amway believers
have formed with their companies have served to protect the executive scoundrels at
the heart of the bad affair from legal responsibilities that an employee/employer
relationship would entail. Companies like Southwestern Company, based in Nashville,
Tennessee, Kirby, and Amway, benefit from the fact that if any of their 'independents'
commit crime, they--the company--are insulated by the 'mind numbing' legalistic
fine print in the contract absolving them of responsibility.
Malinda's Law, a proposed law in the state of Wisconsin (along with other similar proposed
state legislation elsewhere) would seek to make it difficult for companies like Kirby,
Southwestern, Amway, and the many other fly by night magazine sellers, to avoid
responsibility for the actions of their non-employee salespeople. Door to door
sellers--including Amway--would no longer be able to disavowal the tragedies and
crimes wrought by their 'independent' representatives. After all, it is these corrupt
companies that benefit monetarily by what amounts to the representative's scamming,
all of which is done on a grand scale! The law would also seek to prevent many corrupt
traveling sales crew practices--like the retention of pay to the end of the summer sales season,
abandonment by the roadside of poor sellers, and even horrific situation where poor
performers are forced to fight others for the right to sleep in a real bed after a
hard day of knocking on doors.
Horrific stories abound in the traveling sales crew business. Please be a supporter of
legislation that would stop corrupt companies, including Amway Global, from continuing
to maintain their 'independent' farce and thereby exonerate themselves from the frauds
that their cult initiates commit. I am reminded that the Green River killer was an
Amway salesman. Amway and all these other fly by night magazine sellers would be
required by new legislation to perform back ground checks on their representatives,
and they no longer would be exempt from responsibility for the horrific crimes some of
their present 'independents' commit against the dignity of citizens of these United States.
Amway is a perversion of the American Way. They operate a World Cult. Their adherent's
are victims of what British author David Brear describes as a 'closed market swindle'.
At some point these victims become active participants in the Amway crime.
The Direct Selling Association, along with Southwestern company have actively sought
to prevent Malinda's Law from being enacted. For this reason, I have to single out
folks like Amy Robinson for their continued opposition of this important Wisconsin
legislation. Phil Ellenbecker is continuing to add names to a tragic death toll that keeps rising.
The Janesville Tragedy didn't have to happen, and neither did the New Carlisle,
Indiana Tragedy. The blood of these youthful initiates is laid at the feet of Amy
Robinson and the Direct Selling Association, all to their significant shame!
Posted by quixtarisacult at 3:48 PM
quixtarisacultintervention.blogspot.com
Read This Story
|
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Door-to-door peddler's deal was illegal
from the get-go
Door-to-Door Sales Company:
Urban Success Inc.
January 3, 2009
Door-to-door peddler's deal was illegal from the get-go
JAMES ELI SHIFFER
Star Tribune
January 3, 2009
Kay Wall doesn't normally buy anything from people who come to her door in Eden Prairie.
But the young man who appeared in June peddling magazine subscriptions had a persuasive pitch.
"It was basically giving him kind of a business opportunity to better himself," Wall recalled.
So Wall paid $50 for a subscription to Military History, a magazine she thought her husband
would like. But the magazine didn't come within the 120 days promised by the company,
Urban Success Inc. of Missouri City, Texas.
Wall called the company repeatedly. When someone finally called her back, she was told
that the magazine was no longer being published and that she would receive a refund
of her $50 by Nov. 14. It didn't happen. Now the company's phone number rolls over to
an unintelligible person's voice mail.
"I don't know if this Urban Success went out of business, or was just a scam to begin with,"
Wall said. "Against my better judgment, I got suckered in. I'm kicking myself for it."
My inquiry revealed a few intriguing facts:
• The door-to-door magazine salesman didn't have a peddler/solicitor license from the
city of Eden Prairie and therefore was breaking the law.
• Military History magazine is still being published.
• Urban Success Inc. did not respond to 43 of 45 complaints to the Better Business Bureau,
earning the company an unsatisfactory rating from the Greater Houston BBB.
I couldn't reach anyone with the company, either at the toll-free number or the cell
phone of company executive Timothy Moore. Urban Success' registered agent, a Houston
attorney named Jeanne Fugate, told me she merely helped the company incorporate several years ago.
Door-to-door magazine sales crews have stirred up quite a bit of controversy in recent years,
not just for complaints that customers were cheated, but also for reports of violence,
drug use and other unsafe conditions among the crews of young workers traveling
around the country.
By law, consumers have three days to cancel an offer accepted from a door-to-door sales rep,
according to the Federal Trade Commission. The peddler is supposed to hand over a
cancellation form at the time of sale.
Christy Weigel, licensing technician for the Eden Prairie Police Department, said Eden
Prairie, like most cities in the metro area, requires door-to-door solicitors to have a
city license, which typically involves a background check, and residents should ask to
see the license. This is the first she has heard of Urban Success Inc.
Weigel encourages people to dial 911 if they're suspicious about a peddler's motives or
behavior. If the sales rep doesn't have a license, "our officers have the discretion
of taking them to jail," Weigel said.
JAMES ELI SHIFFER
JAMES ELI SHIFFER
Star Tribune
startribune.com
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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|
Lafayette, California
Traveling salesman pleads guilty
to rape-murder of 90-year-old woman
Door-to-Door Sales Company:
Overachievers
January 1, 2009
Traveling salesman pleads guilty to rape-murder of 90-year-old woman
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, January 1, 2009
(12-31) 08:42 PST MARTINEZ --
A traveling magazine salesman from Missouri pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he raped and
killed a 90-year-old Lafayette woman in her home three years ago.
Richard Craig McNew, 34, a felon from St. Louis, is expected to be sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole for murdering Anna Elizabeth Vuori.
Vuori was bound and gagged in her Moraga Boulevard home, sexually assaulted and found smothered
to death on Dec. 10, 2005. McNew, who worked for Overachievers, a Missouri magazine-subscription
company, then took $18,000 in savings bonds and $200 in cash and Vuori's keys.
At a hearing Tuesday in Martinez, McNew pleaded guilty before Judge Terence Bruiniers to murder
and special circumstances that the murder was committed during the course of a robbery, burglary
and rape by instrument. He also pleaded guilty to robbery and burglary counts.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a rape charge. McNew had been scheduled
to go to trial in January in Contra Costa County Superior Court and had been facing the death penalty.
"It was the best possible result, under the circumstances," said McNew's attorney, Deputy Public Defender
Terri Mockler. "Had we gone to trial, there was always the possibility that a jury would have
returned a death verdict."
Judge Theresa Canepa is scheduled to sentence McNew on Feb. 13.
Investigators said DNA at the crime scene matched a sample of McNew's DNA included in
a national database. McNew has a criminal record in Missouri that dates to 1993 and includes
convictions for assault, robbery and drug and weapons possession, court records show.
E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
sfgate.com
San Francisco, California
Read This Story
|
Lafayette, California
Salesman pleads guilty to 2005 slaying of elderly Lafayette woman
Door-to-Door Sales Company: Overachievers
December 30, 2008
Salesman pleads guilty to 2005 slaying of elderly Lafayette woman
By Malaika Fraley
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Posted: 12/30/2008 07:57:27 PM PST
Updated: 12/31/2008 06:33:50 AM PST
MARTINEZ — A Missouri man pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual assault and murder in the
death of a 90-year-old Lafayette woman he met while selling magazines door-to-door.
Ann Elizabeth Vuori's body was found bound to a bed inside her Moraga Boulevard home Dec. 10, 2005.
A month later, a national database linked DNA recovered from the home to Richard Craig McNew,
who was in a St. Louis jail on an unrelated robbery warrant.
McNew was facing the death penalty at a trial scheduled to start next month. He now faces
life without the possibility of parole at a sentence hearing set for Feb. 13.
Prosecutors said that McNew was a traveling magazine salesman for the Overachievers
company when he came across the retired accountant. Vuori was smothered and sexually assaulted.
Savings bonds and other property were stolen from her ransacked home.
At McNew's preliminary hearing in 2007, a detective testified that McNew argued that Vuori
invited into her home to fix a water heater. He told police that he stole Vuori's credit card
but that he did not assault her.
In a Martinez courtroom Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to murder, robbery, burglary,
forced sexual penetration and special allegations that had made him a candidate for
capital punishment. A rape charge and related special allegation were dismissed as
part of the plea agreement with the District Attorney's Office, said Deputy Public
Defender Terri Mockler.?
"The best we could have hoped for by going to trial was life without the possibility
of parole and there was a chance he could have gotten death," Mockler said.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves,? could not be reached for comment.
The Vuori murder prompted the Lafayette City Council to consider refusing to issue
solicitor licenses to individuals with criminal records. The proposed ordinance is
scheduled for council consideration in January.
Reach Malaika Fraley at mfraley@bayareanewsgroup.com.
By Malaika Fraley
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
insidebayarea.com
Oakland, California
Read This Story
|
Reno, Nevada
Warning issued for another door-to-door scam
December 30, 2008
Warning issued for another door-to-door scam
KRNV News 4
Posted: Dec 30, 2008 03:48 PM CST
Updated: Dec 30, 2008 04:03 PM CST
Attorney General's office has issued a warning regarding a door-to-door scam involving the
selling of magazines that has some victims wondering, when do I get my order?
A senior deputy reports, they've received complaints about college-aged people, going
door-to-door, selling magazines, claiming to be taking part in a fundraiser.
The magazines are reportedly sold for double or even triple the price and the magazines
are never sent to the home.
The office says they were able to make some arrests from cases in Reno adding that the scam
involved a group of people from Florida.
"They don't have any money and if the driver of the van doesn't like what they're doing,
they can just leave them on the street, so it's a problem all the way around,"
Senior Deputy Attorney General John McGlamery says. "We simply don't want to
encourage this conduct by buying magazines from them."
The Attorney General Bureau of Consumer Protection:
First, if suspicious, ask to see a license or school ID and make sure it matches the paperwork.
Secondly, if things don't add up, ask for their information, and relay that to authorities.
And lastly, if things simply don't seem right, just say no.
An earlier warning was issued in June when solicitors posing as University of Nevada
KRNV News 4
krnv.com
Reno, Nevada
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|
Indiana
4 Amway Youths Killed in Indiana Crash
December 29, 2008
Janesville, Wisconsin Traveling Sales Crew Tragedy
Recalled as Amway Youths are Killed in Indiana Crash
Posted by quixtarisacult at 3:48 PM
Monday, December 29, 2008
Readers of this blog may recall that I have associated the Dark Side of Traveling Sales Crews with the
Quixtar/Amway nightmare in several past posts. I have honored the victims of the Janesville,
Wisconsin crash prominently on this blog for some time now. Victims of the Janesville crash
were members of a traveling sales crew. Little enough has been said about the many hours of
potentially life threatening travel that 'core' Amway cult believers must realistically log
in pursuit of Amway fool's gold. These folks are every bit as victimized by the pernicious
Amway cult as the victims of the traveling sales crews tragedy. Two somewhat different groups
basically who were in pursuit of a scheme which only served to enrich others; both groups
victimized by those with whom they believe they are in business with. Tragically, four youthful
Amway cult initiates were killed in an unfortunate auto/truck accident on the Indiana turnpike
which really didn't have to happen. Click here to read the story.
Sadly, we must add the names of new victims in like manner to the victims of the Janesville crash.
Amway youths, another roadside memorial to a tragedy that did not have to happen on a dangerous
road that would have better been left untraveled.
Kyle Sporleder, 20, of Sylvania, Ohio
Aaron F. Esposito, 23, of Novi, Mich
Lauren Diefenthaler, 19, of Ypsilanti, Mich
Rodney M. Echelbarger, age unknown, of Holland, Ohio
Amway Global promotes a pernicious World cult. They misrepresent their cult business as a success, an
incredible reality inverting myth, which makes those who promote it guilty of intent to defraud.
The use of outright lies and deceptions and mind numbing cult propaganda intent to deceive youthful
adherents into the scheme. The costs can be very high in their pay to play 'closed market swindle'
and in the case of these Indiana victims, the price they paid was their lives. If there was no
closed market swindle, these deaths most likely would have been avoided. Accidents do indeed occur,
but this was one that could have been completely avoided!
Posted by quixtarisacult at 3:48 PM
Posted by quixtarisacult at 3:48 PM
quixtarisacultintervention.blogspot.com
Read This Story
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New Carlisle, Indiana
Business partners die in crash
Door-to-Door Sales Company:
Amway Global
December 23, 2008
Business partners die in crash
Father: Four killed had been to conference.
By ERIN BLASKO Tribune Staff Writer
southbendtribune.com
Article published Dec 23, 2008
As Andy Sporleder waited Monday for the arrival of his son's body, he described the atmosphere as calm.
"You know, we're doing pretty good, really," he said from his home in Sylvania, Ohio,
where friends and family members had gathered. "We are aware of the fact that he isn't
coming back."
Kyle Sporleder, 20, of Sylvania, was one of four people killed Sunday in a crash on the
Indiana Toll Road near New Carlisle, Indiana State Police revealed Monday. The other
three victims have been identified as Aaron F. Esposito, 23, of Novi, Mich.; Lauren Diefenthaler,
19, of Ypsilanti, Mich.; and Rodney M. Echelbarger, age unknown, of Holland, Ohio.
According to police, about 8:05 p.m., the four were eastbound about 10 miles west of South
Bend when their car slid across the median and into the path of a westbound semi-truck.
The road was reportedly covered with snow and ice.
Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and the fourth
died later at an area hospital. The driver of the truck, Duane Rigdon, of Carlsbad, Okla.,
was not injured.
According to Andy Sporleder, Kyle and the other three victims worked for Amway Global. He said
they had attended a conference in West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday and were returning Sunday
when the accident occurred.
"They were all business partners," he said. "They were in this business together."
Kyle Sporleder and Echelbarger were also both lance corporals in the Marine Corps Reserves,
according to Capt. Nathan J. Braden, with Marine Forces Reserve Public Affairs. Both were inactive.
Andy Sporleder said his son knew Diefenthaler and Esposito as colleagues, and met Echelbarger
in the Marines.
He said his son joined the Marines out of high school.
"It was just something he wanted to do," Andy Sporleder said. "He wanted to make a difference."
Sporleder said his son left for West Lafayette sometime Friday or early Saturday.
He said he hadn't spoken to him at all over the weekend.
"He was a go-getter," he said. "He had a plan with this business of his. He knew where he
was going and what he wanted to do. He had a fire in him that you just couldn't put out."
Of the accident, he said, "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess."
Staff writer Sue Lowe contributed to this report.
Staff writer Erin Blasko:
eblasko@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6187
By ERIN BLASKO Tribune Staff Writer
southbendtribune.com
New Carlisle, Indiana
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Salt Lake City, Utah
Accused Rapist May Be Incompetent To Stand Trial
December 19, 2008
Accused rapist may be incompetent to stand trial
KSL Television & Radio, Salt Lake City UT
(KSL News)
December 19th, 2008 @ 10:41am
A door-to-door salesman accused of raping an American Fork woman may not be competent to stand trial.
Attorneys for Brian Mask say two doctors who have examined him found he has diminished
mental capacity. The Provo Daily Herald reports the judge in the case is now reviewing
the doctors reports and will rule on the issue in January.
Mask was working for an Illinois-based magazine sales company when he allegedly attacked a
woman in her home, beating her and sexually assaulting her.
He is now charged with aggravated sexual assault and attempted murder with injury.
KSL Television & Radio, Salt Lake City UT
(KSL News)
ksl.com
Salt Lake City, Utah
Read This Story
Additional articles on Brian Mask
|
La Mesa, California
‘Life goes on’ for grandma after abduction and beating
December 16, 2008
‘Life goes on’ for grandma after abduction and beating
‘I have to stay positive’ says 75-year-old left bound in car trunk for 26 hours
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
MSNBC
updated 8:26 a.m. CT, Tues., Dec. 16, 2008
The 75-year-old grandmother was strangled, punched, kicked, bound in duct tape and thrown in
the trunk of her own car by three young adults. After 26 hours without food or water, Sandy
Vinge made a silent plea to God: Either save me, or let me die.
“I told God that,” Vinge, her face still swollen and marked by ugly purple bruises, recalled to
TODAY’s Matt Lauer. “Then I asked my late husband, who had just died — I said, ‘Don, tell God [to]
help me.’ And he did. That night he helped me. The sheriffs came and they rescued me, because I
wouldn’t have lasted long.”
Vinge had spent several days in a San Diego hospital, so badly beaten that she couldn’t even
speak at first. But by Monday, the spirited woman who loves to dance was feeling well enough
to get her hair done, put on a nice dress, and talk to Lauer from her La Mesa, Calif., home with
her son, Daniel Allen, at her side.
Trust betrayed
“I have bruises on my body because they kicked me and hit me and everything,” she told Lauer in
an interview that was recorded on Monday and aired Tuesday.
Vinge’s ordeal had begun a week earlier on Monday, Dec. 8, when she bought a vacuum
cleaner from a door-to-door salesman identified as Jeffrey Edward Nelson, 19.
That night, she said, he returned to her home and asked to use the phone.
“He said his girlfriend had kicked him [out] and could he use my phone to call his mother,”
Vinge told Lauer. An open woman who likes to help anyone she can, she let him in.
“I said, ‘Yes, you can,’ so I showed him where the phone was,” Vinge said. “As I turned to walk
away, that’s when he choked me from behind.”
Vinge lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she was in the trunk area of her Dodge
Magnum station wagon, bound with duct tape so she couldn’t move. “They stole me in my own car,”
she said. “That was awful.”
Two others were in the car with Nelson, she said: another young man identified by police
as Luis Lomeli Osborne, 18, and a young woman identified as Antoinette Marie Baker, 18.
26-hour ordeal
For the next 26 hours, police say, the three abductors drove around in Vinge’s car, using her
credit cards to buy gas and other items. They never offered anything to Vinge, and when
she asked for something to drink because she was desperately thirsty, one of the men
smashed her in the face with his fist.
“I was so taped and bound I couldn’t even move to protect myself,” Vinge told Lauer.
“He was driving crazy and I was bouncing all over the place.”
Finally, on Tuesday night, a police officer saw the car committing a traffic violation,
gave chase, and stopped the car. The officer found Vinge in the back. When the duct
tape was removed, it took her skin with it in some places.
Nelson, Osborne and Baker were arrested and charged with a number of crimes, including
kidnapping and assault. They were arraigned on Friday and are being held on $2 million
bail each. The three pleaded not guilty.
An in-court television camera zoomed in on Nelson, a muscular young man with buzz-cut hair,
and showed him rolling his eyes as the charges against him were read.
“This is the most egregious, baffling set of circumstances that I’ve ever come across,”
Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood told reporters.
“It’s hard to believe someone would do that,” Daniel Allen told Lauer. “For what,
some credit card charges, a few bucks and a bottle of booze? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Life goes on
Vinge has three children, including Allen, and two grandchildren.
Allen is staying with her as she recovers. He told Lauer it’s not
easy to control his anger at what happened to a woman as sweet and beloved as his mother.
“I’m holding it together because my job right now is to take care of my mom,” Allen said.
“I didn’t go to the court, because I didn’t want to be the guy climbing over the fence trying to
get to the guy, especially with their attitude being it was no big deal.”
It’s hard for him to look at his mother’s bruised and battered face. “But when she talks,
it’s my mom behind it all,” he told Lauer. “It’s very comforting that she’s the same sweet,
loving person that loves everybody and her home is open to everybody. That’s probably how
this all came about, that she became an easy target because she’s an open door.”
Although she can’t understand why she was attacked, Vinge is determined to get back to
her active and busy life. “There’s nothing I can do about what happened,” she said.
“I have to be positive, because life goes on.”
Lauer asked Vinge if she would be letting any more strangers into her home.
“No, I don’t think so,” she said with a big smile. “There’s not that many people out
there like this. I’ll probably be afraid — even now, when the doorbell rings, I get a
little scared even [though] I have my big old boy with me. I don’t think I’ll do that again, Matt.”
Lauer wished Vinge a happy holiday and told her to take care of herself.
She smiled and offered Lauer some grandmotherly advice of her own: “You take care of you,
too, Matt. Don’t you let strangers in.”
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com
Read This Story
|
Camarillo, California
Magazine Salesman Arrested On Suspicion Of Burglary
December 12, 2008
Suspected burglar says he was just selling magazines
From staff reports
VenturaCountyStar
Originally published 04:01 p.m., December 12, 2008
Updated 04:01 p.m., December 12, 2008
Authorities said a man accused of burglarizing a Camarillo home this week had a novel
explanation for his actions: He was selling magazines.
Kenwaun Drummer, 20, of Chicago was arrested Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of burglary
after he entered a home in the 200 block of Camino Leon through an open bedroom window,
sheriff's Detective Eric Buschow said today.
After he entered the home, Drummer was confronted by a 16-year-old girl who lives there,
Buschow said. She told police that when she demanded to know what he was doing there,
he asked if she wanted to buy a magazine, then fled the residence, Buschow said.
Sheriff's deputies arrested Drummer nearby after the girl called 911, the detective said.
Drummer later told authorities he worked for a Chicago-based magazine company.
He was being held Friday in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
From staff reports
VenturaCountyStar
venturacountystar.com
Camarillo, California
Read This Story
|
El Cajon, California
Police rescue kidnap victim, 75, after two-day ordeal
December 10, 2008
Police rescue kidnap victim, 75, after two-day ordeal
By Debbi Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
signonsandiego.com
2:45 p.m. December 10, 2008
EL CAJON – A 75-year-old woman was freed from a harrowing ordeal Wednesday morning after being
kidnapped from her La Mesa home and found gagged with tape and tied up in the back of her station wagon,
according to sheriff's detectives.
The woman was severely beaten and had her wrists, hands and mouth bound with duct tape, said sheriff's Sgt.
Mark Varnau. The kidnappers had kept her in a Dodge Magnum with no food or water since Monday night,
Varnau said. “She was in fear for her life the entire two days,” said the sergeant, who supervises the department's elder-abuse unit.
Luis Osborne and Antoinette Baker, both 18 and from El Cajon, were arrested with Jeffrey Nelson, 19, of
Lakeside, said Lt. Dennis Brugos.
Sheriff's deputies tried to pull over the speeding car in Lakeside about 12:20 a.m. Wednesday,
Varnau said. The driver sped off and ran a red light, and a short pursuit ended when the car pulled
over near Tangerine Street and Bluebell Way, Varnau said.
A man and a woman who were passengers ran away; the driver got out and followed commands to
get on the ground, but he ended up getting away.
El Cajon police officers arrived, opened the back hatch of the car and found the woman inside.
“Her face was severely swollen from being beaten,” Varnau said. She had two black eyes.
She told deputies that two weeks ago she had the carpets cleaned at her Resmar Place home and
was given a discount for a vacuum cleaner.
Next, the manager and a salesman who said they were from the vacuum cleaner company sold her a
vacuum for more than $2,000, the sergeant said.
The salesman later turned out to be one of the men involved in the kidnapping, Varnau said.
At 9:30 a.m. Monday, the salesman returned to the woman's home, where she was having coffee
with a friend, and said he wanted to thank her for the purchase, Varnau said.
That man returned to the house about 10 p.m. Monday. He said he had just broken up with his
girlfriend and asked to use her phone. She let him in and “he put his arm around her neck
and choked her until she was unconscious,” the sergeant said.
The man then tied the woman up with duct tape and went through the house looking for things to steal,
Varnau said. He then dragged her to the car and put her in the back, covered the car and left her there,
the sergeant said.
The woman told deputies the car was driven to a gas station where she was able to scream for
help because she had chewed through the duct tape.
No one heard her.
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