Traveling Door-To-Door Sales Criminal Chronology

Compiled 08/21/06

Crimes Recorded From 1982 – July 2005

Dedicated Memorial Parents Group

www.dedicatedmemorial.org

www.travelingsalescrews.info

 

  1. 2005 - Magazine Salesman Arrested For Sexually Assaulting Baby Sitter. Loveland Teen Says Man Forced His Way into Home. A man police say sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl is in custody. Loveland police arrested the 34-year-old man while he was selling magazines door to door near West 1st Street and S. Tyler. The teenager told police said she was babysitting at a home in the 100 block of Ranae Drive Wednesday evening when the man forced his way into the home and assaulted her. 
  2. 2005 - Duwane C. Walker, who has no permanent address, was being held in Spokane County Jail Friday on 19 separate charges, with another 24 charges pending. Together, they comprise nine counts of residential burglary, 24 counts of forgery and 10 counts of identity theft. Walker is employed as a door to door salesman working for World Wide Reader Service.
  3. 2005 - Three Sentenced for Federal Criminal Tax Offenses.

On June 6, 2005, in San Diego, CA, Lonnie R. Divine, Yvonne R. Ruel and Deanna M. McKinnon were sentenced for federal criminal tax offenses. Divine, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison, ordered to pay a $6,000 fine, and serve three years supervised release. Divine operated a door-to-door business that earned over $11 million in gross receipts from 1993 through 1997. Divine evaded his taxes by converting a substantial portion of the gross receipts to cash, often after transferring the money through several bank accounts; transferring gross receipts of the business from business bank accounts to personal bank accounts for non-business purposes; and using the gross receipts of the business to make payments of about $1.8 million to his casino accounts in Las Vegas and Tahoe, NV; acquire assets and invest funds; and disguise his ownership in assets. Also sentenced were Divine's wife, Yvonne Ruel receiving 5 months in prison, followed by 5 months home confinement and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and daughter, Deanna McKinnon, who received three months in prison, followed by three months home confinement and ordered to perform 192 hours of community service both admitting to failing to file a tax return on income earned from Divine’s business.

  1. 2005 - Salesman arrested on fugitive charge:

NARRAGANSETT -- A door to door salesman working in the pier

area turned out to be a fugitive from justice wanted on burglary

charges in New Jersey. After running his name through a national criminal database police arrested Michael W. Cooper, 23, of Millville, N.J.,

as he was selling magazine subscriptions on Atlantic Avenue

Wednesday evening. The police obtained his name, age and

address from a list of salesmen working in town provided to

the police and the town clerk by their employer, Jaguar Sales.

  1. 2005 - Fugitive Sex Offender Captured:

A high risk sex offender who’s been on the run since

mid-March has been caught in Connecticut.

26-year-old Michael Davenport was arrested yesterday in New Haven  Burleigh County Captain Collin Rixen says the arrest came after police there received a call about a man selling magazines door to door.

  1. 2005 - Magazine seller attacks 84-Year-old woman:

CENTENNIAL - An 84-year-old Centennial woman may have escaped further injury by an attacker by playing dead.

It happened on Tuesday near Arapahoe and I-25. Investigators say a 23-year-old man came to her door, trying to sell magazine subscriptions.

When she said no he entered her home, and started choking her. Edward Irving is currently in custody for among other things, suspicion of attempted murder. Irving's rap sheet includes drugs, burglary and assault.

  1. 2005 - Felony theft: A 21-year-old Oshkosh, Wis., man was arrested Monday after he allegedly stole prescription narcotics from a resident in the 1400 block of Goodwin Avenue. The man, who was selling magazines door-to-door, reportedly entered the home after getting permission, asked to use the restroom and stole the pills, which were valued at $174.98. Police located the suspect about 1:30 p.m. with the pills and booked him at the county jail.
  2. 2005 – Florida firm cited in rape case rejects claim:

CONCORD - The owner of a Florida company named in a rape

investigation involving three door-to-door salesmen is disputing a

prosecutor’s statement that his business is a front for criminal activity.

“He’s a liar,” Belo Kellam said Friday of prosecutor Scott Murray. “For

him to say that we encourage people to do those acts, well, that’s just

out of order.” Kellam owns Fidelity Readers Service Inc., in Naples, Fla.

The company hires traveling crews to sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door. At a hearing Thursday, Murray said the company “appears to be a cover for an organization which engages in home invasion, burglary, theft and sexual assault.”

  1. 2005 - Another Mag. Salesman Nabbed For Burglary

Spokane County-Sheriff-News Release. A second traveling magazine salesman has been arrested for burglary, this suspect for smashing out a window at a West Plains motel and entering the room where a resident was watching television. Deputy Shawn Audie and others were called to the Cedar Village Motel at 5415 West Sunset about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. When he arrived, Audie found a man standing in front of the victim's room. The suspect was bleeding profusely and screaming for an ambulance. Audie detained the man in handcuffs, identified him as Andre A. James, 23, of Massachusetts, and turned him over to paramedics.

  1. 2005 - Antonio M. Smokes a traveling magazine salesman working for American Global Services Inc. is wanted for armed robbery. SMOKES represented himself as a magazine salesman and - upon entering the victim's residence - armed himself with a kitchen knife and demanded money from the victim. Gainsville, Florida Police Department Bulletin #: 05-084p/jm.
  2. 2005 - Michael Anthony Smith (18) is in town from Modesto selling cleaning products door-to-door. He contacted a woman at her residence on Inglewood and began demonstrating his wares, even though the woman asked him to go away. Before she could shut the door Smith walked into the residence and began demonstrating his product on several pieces of her furniture, all under the protests of the woman. Smith then asked for a drink of water and actually walked into the kitchen where he grabbed a drink. As he returned to the living room he was being escorted out the door when he grabbed the woman and pulled her to the floor. He then attempted to sexually assault the victim. The woman was finally able to convince him to stop and leave by telling him she was expecting family home any time. Smith fled from the residence but was stopped a short while later when one of his co-workers was stopped for harassing other folks in the area. Smith was in the same vehicle and after a field line-up where he was positively identified by the victim and arrested. He was booked for all violations. Salinas, California Police Department Release 01/28/05.
  3.  2005 - Fugitive Sex Offender Captured: A high risk sex offender who's been on the run since mid march has been caught in Connecticut.

26-year old Michael Davenport was arrested yesterday in New Haven. BurleIgh county captain Collin Rixen says the arrest came after police there received a call about a man selling magazines door to door.

  1. 2004 - Dangelo Langford a traveling magazine salesman working for American Community Services has be charged with Intent to Commit Rape, Assault With A Deadly Weapon, Elder Abuse, Burglary, Resisting Arrest, Kidnapping, False Imprisonment. On Oct. 7, 2004 Langford beat and tried to rape an elderly woman during an October home invasion that rattled her downtown Menlo Park neighborhood. In August of 2005 Langford was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
  2. 2004 - Derrick Todd Jones was convicted of sexual assault of a 15 year old girl to whom he was trying to sell magazines in Cleveland.  Seven months earlier he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 17 year old girl while selling magazines door-to-door in Menlo Park, California.
  3. 2004 - Ronald Glenn Bell, age 23, was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman to whom he was attempting to sell magazines
  4. 2004 - Joshua Montez Bradshaw charged with burglary, grand theft, trespassing, and selling magazines without required permit in Collier County, Florida. Bradshaw is a previous offender wanted in New Jersey for failing to appear in court on previous burglary and theft charges.
  5. 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. Bridge is being held on a $500,000 bond, has outstanding warrents in Illinois, and is also being charged with robbery.
  6. 2004 - EL CAJON, California – A door-to-door magazine salesman admitted in Superior Court yesterday that he molested a 9-year-old girl in the living room of her family's apartment while her mother rested in another room. As part of a plea agreement approved by Judge Allan Preckel, Maurice Andre Thomas will be sentenced to 24 years in prison for molesting the girl March 16 after accosting her in a gated play area outside the front door of her Estes Street apartment. Sentencing was set for Sept. 28.  Thomas, 26, of Glendale, Ariz., pleaded guilty to four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14 in exchange for the dismissal of other related charges. Had he gone to trial and been convicted on all counts, Thomas could have faced a life term in prison, prosecutor Kurt Mechals said.
  7. 2004 - Salinas Police Department, California

Woman suspected of lighting fires in stores. Blazes damage four shops in Newbury Park mall. A 19-year-old woman soliciting magazine subscriptions at a Newbury Park strip mall was arrested Monday in connection with a series of fires that erupted in bathrooms of four shops, authorities said. Latrice Brown of Dallas was being booked into Ventura County Jail late Monday on suspicion of arson of personal property of others, authorities said.

  1. 2004 - Magazine Salesman Arrested For Sexual Assault.

A door-to-door salesman is under arrest, accused of trying to sexually assault a young woman in Pullman Friday. Christopher Day working for Unlimited Sales, Inc. is being charged with Sexual Assault, Attempted Rape, and Burglary. Pullman Police Department: Case Number 04 P06490. Pullman, Washington.

  1. 2004 - A convicted sex offender has been arrested while selling magazines door-to-door. Omaha Police Sergeant Teresa Negron says, "When they got him to central station they performed an ID check to verify his name. In doing so, found his name was different than what he had said and he did have two felony warrants out of Washington state." Joshua Brewster is also a registered sex offender. He will be extradited to Washington.
  2. 2004 - Teen Door-To-Door Salesperson Arrested For Assault

Police: Many Individuals On Sales Crews Have Criminal Records.

COPLEY, Ohio -- Every summer door-to-door sales crews hit the streets attempting to convince people to purchase their products.

Last week, an 85-year-old woman told police in Copley that she was assaulted and robbed by one of these salespeople.

Police have arrested a 16-year-old in connection with the assault, and Summit County juvenile authorities are holding the teen.

A News Channel 5 investigation found that the company for which the teen works is United Entrepreneurs out of Texas.

  1. 2003 - A 19 year old Marietta Georgia woman was raped by a man selling magazine subscriptions.
  2.  2003 - Bolton, Massachusetts: Check theft in Bolton casts spotlight on magazine solicitors nationwide. A magazine saleswoman selling magazines door to door and working for American Community Services has been charged with felony larceny by check, felony forgery by check, and misdemeanor theft. 
  3. 2003 - Two female magazine salespeople were arrested in Westbrook Connecticut for larceny from homes while going door-to-door selling magazines.
  4. 2003 - Joshua W. Williams sexually assaulted a 19 year old Gurnee, Illinois woman while soliciting door-to-door for magazine sales.
  5. 2003 - On Nov. 13, in Portland, Tenn., about 40 miles north of Nashville, magazine salesman Brandon R. Bartee, 22, talked his way into a home and, according to police, sexually fondled a 6-year-old girl — in front of her mother. When arrested, Bartee had a card in his wallet identifying him as a registered sex offender from Texas, Assistant Portland Police Chief Richard Smith said. Bartee was charged with aggravated sexual battery.
  6. 2003 - Rodger Erick Broadway was sentences for life imprisonment without parole for a 2001 murder of a Knoxville woman who he raped and  murdered while employed by The Real Deal and American Community Services as a traveling door to door magazine salesman.
  7. 2003 - In August of 2003 Aaron Fulcer working as a traveling magazine salesman for Imperial Sales was arrested in Dane County, Wisconsin Town Of Dunn, for outstanding warrants, operating a motor vehicle after revocation, and contempt of court.
  8. 2003 - Philip White III is charged with Second-Degree Felony Burglary With A Firearm and Second Degree Kidnapping With A Firearm. White was employed as a traveling magazine salesman working for Paragon Sales. White is a previous offender with six previous felony convictions. Many of his convictions were for armed robbery.
  9. 2003 - In February of 2003 Gerald L. Thompson, 19, was arrested on charges of breaching the peace and resisting arrest with violence. He is in the St. Johns County Jail on a $15,000 bond. According to the arrest report, Thompson lashed out when they tried to handcuff him. It took three deputies to force him onto the trunk of a patrol car. Thompson grabbed one by the neck after his hands were locked. Thompson was selling magazines door to door.
  10. 2003 - Camerae Harris, 23, of Maple Heights, Ohio, was arrested and charged with possession of a Class D substance and possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute. Harris was working as a traveling magazine salesman for American Community Services.
  11. 2003 - Prince Jermaine Gregg, 22, of Bishopville, S.C., was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree sexual abuse, according to the Mobile County Metro Jail's Web site. Gregg remained in jail Wednesday in lieu of a $3,000 bond, a corrections officer said.  Gregg was going door-to-door, selling cleaning supplies and employed by Pumppers Trust.
  12. 2003 - Man Rapes Woman In Front Of Child:

A woman was raped inside her home Tuesday afternoon in Rutherford County. A man forced his way inside the woman’s home around 1 p.m., tied her up and raped her in front of her 18-month-old child, police said.

Later in the afternoon, LaVergne police arrested Donnelle Covington, 19, and charged him with aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. The suspect and several other people were selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door in the neighborhood, police said. Covington was working for American Community Services out of Michigan City, Indiana.

  1. 2003 - Felony Theft From An Elder:

Two magazine salesmen will each serve 150 days in jail after being convicted of defrauding an 85-year-old Camarillo woman, who ended up paying for more than 200 years' worth of subscriptions, according to the district attorney's office.

Jeremy Marquez, 21, of Sacramento, and Jonathan Carey, 22, of Tacoma, Wash., each pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft from an elder. Both men also received 36 months' probation during their sentencing Tuesday.

Marquez and Carey were employed by Unified Family Circulation, Inc.

  1. 2002 - Two magazine salesmen were convicted in the beating death of a Ft. Wayne, Indiana man at a motel used by a magazine sales company to house its sales force. One is awaiting sentencing for involuntary manslaughter. The other received a 25-year sentence for murder.
  2. 2002 - A door-to-door magazine salesman charged with the September rape of a 12-year-old Lancaster girl was expected to plead guilty Tuesday, but instead told a Fairfield County judge he wants to go before a jury. Michael Roland Poissant, 30, of Bristol, R.I., is charged with two counts of rape and one count each of kidnapping, abduction and aggravated burglary. Poissant was working for Palmetto Marketing out of Coral Springs, Fla. Poissant had an extensive previous criminal record.
  3. 2002 - A magazine salesman was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting two girls, aged 12 and 13 in their home in Parker, Colorado after the girls let him inside for a drink of water. A second salesman is also awaiting sentencing in the case.
  4. 2002—A 24 year-old magazine salesman was arrested in Durham, North Carolina for molesting and exposing himself to a mentally disabled teenager who answered the door
  5. 2002 - The Illinois Attorneys General office has filed a civil lawsuit against Karleen H. Hillery and Circulation I, Inc./ Circulation II Inc./Services Unlimited Plus for 70 counts of magazine consumer fraud.
  6. 2002—A magazine salesman is charged with felonies of attempted forcible rape, attempted forcible sodomy, and first-degree burglary and with misdemeanor false imprisonment.  According to the prosecutors, Edward O’Neill, Jr. was selling magazine subscriptions and attacked the girl after she made a purchase and went to retrieve her purse.
  7. 2002 - A door-to-door salesman from Virginia was ordered to stand trial yesterday on charges that he raped a 14-year-old Dormont girl last month while she was baby-sitting. Deon Bowens, 23, of Richmond, Va. is being held on charges of rape, sexual assault and statutory sexual assault because the girl is underage. Bowens is being held at Allegheny County Jail. Bail has been set at $110,000. Bowens was working for Austin Diversified Products.
  8. 2002—A door-to-door magazine salesman was arrested on a warrant for felony sexual abuse charges in Dublin California.  The sexual assault was of a 13 year-old girl in Cook County, Illinois.
  9. 2002 - Salesmen suspected of burglary, forgery: Two 20-year-old men working as door-to-door salesmen have been arrested and booked into county jail on suspicion of burglary and forgery, police said.

They were identified as Steven J. Varley and Jeovanne B. Brackett, said Bill Robinson, spokesman for the San Diego Police Department.

Varley and Brackett were being held in county jail yesterday in lieu of $110,000 bail each, and are scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in San Diego Superior Court. Varley was booked on suspicion of burglary, forgery and receiving stolen property, according to jail records, while Brackett was booked on suspicion of two counts of first-degree burglary, forgery and receiving stolen property. The two men told police they worked for Circulation 2 Inc. of Rock Island, Ill.

  1. 2001—Magazine salesman arrested for criminal trespass and possession of drug paraphernalia in Spokane, Washington.
  2. 2001 - Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies have arrested a door-to-door magazine salesman on suspicion of sexually assaulting a Pleasanton housekeeper. Sheriff's deputies detained Jeremy Ruben Karabela, 23, of Charlotte, N.C. for questioning last Thursday following complaints about a stranger in the Pleasanton neighborhood. When deputies ran Karabela's name, they discovered he was wanted in Pleasanton on suspicion of sexual assault and burglary and turned him over to Pleasanton authorities. Karabela is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail at Santa Rita Jail on

suspicion of burglary (entering a home with the intent to commit a felony) and forcible sexual penetration with a foreign object.

  1. 2001 - A magazine salesman was taken into custody for Sexual Battery, Criminal Confinement, and Indecent Exposure after trapping a woman in her car in a parking lot in Greenfield, Indiana.
  2. 2001 - Police charge 17-year-old in sexual attack in Fern Creek. A 17-year-old boy from Texas who had been selling magazines door to door in Jefferson County is wanted in last month's attack on a 27-year-old woman in Fern Creek, police said yesterday. The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, is charged with first-degree sodomy and attempted murder, said Officer Robert Biven, a Jefferson County Police spokesman. Police said the youth had been an employee with Interstate Subscription Services, based in San Antonio, which has more than 100 independent contractors nationwide who handle solicitors.
  3. 2001 - A magazine salesman was sentenced to two to four years in prison for attempted sexual assault during a robbery in a parking lot in Lincoln, Nebraska. A second salesman was sentenced to two years six months to five years in prison for attempted robbery in the same incident.
  4. 2001 - A local drug dealer in Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced to 43 years in prison for gunning down a magazine sales crew manager during a bad drug buy in a motel room that he had rented to house young salespeople.
  5. 2001 -  A magazine salesman pleaded guilty to luring sisters, seven years old and ten years old, into a secluded park area in Olympia, Washington. He was sentenced to five months in prison and one year probation.
  6. 2001 - A magazine salesman pleaded no contest to stabbing another salesman with a pair of scissors in a motel room used to house a sales crew in Boulder, Colorado. He received one-year of probation.
  7. 2001 - Norfolk - A Peninsula man was sentenced Friday to 43 years in prison for gunning down a door-to-door salesman last year in Ocean View. Arthur Matthews Jr., 19, of Newport News, received 40 years for his guilty plea to second-degree murder and three years for his plea to a firearms charge. John Skyles III, 31, was in town selling magazine subscriptions when he was shot to death on March 15 in a room at a Quality Inn. Skyles was from Luther, Mich., and worked for Palmetto Marketing in Coral Springs, Fla. He came to Newport News with a group of salesmen. Matthews told Judge Junius P. Fulton III on Friday that the shooting was an accident, but police said the killing involved a dispute over drugs.
  8. 2000—Oswego County, NY.  Matthew Maxson, age 18, a traveling magazine salesman was convicted of murdering Diane Cooper. Maxson entered Cooper’s home attempting to sell her magazines.  He entered Cooper’s home attempting to sell her magazines and then brutally attacked her using a glass jar and a knife.  She was beaten into unconsciousness and died. Maxson had previously been convicted of two crimes and was a chronic abuser of alcohol and street drugs. Maxson was employed by Palmetto Marketing.
  9. 2000—Two traveling salesmen and their employer agreed to a $1.8 million settlement for beating a man in Portland, Oregon.
  10. 2000—Grand Island Neb.  20 year old man, no permanent address, in town selling magazines door-to-door was arrested for robbery.
  11. 2000 - A Minnesota magazine salesman, who apparently decided to switch careers in Texas last week, was jailed early Saturday at the Carter County Detention Center on drug trafficking and possession of a stolen vehicle charges. Deputy Jim Sturges, assigned to the Task Force, said 22-year-old Dwight Hammond, Red Wing, Minn., was arrested about 9 a.m. by Deputy Greg Johnson and reserve officers. Hammond was taken into custody when deputies found him inside a stolen Jeep that had careened into a Telephone Road pasture, located near Springer. "The deputies received a call there was a vehicle in a pasture. When they arrived they found Hammond and an enormous amount of a controlled dangerous substance and called the Task Force," Sturges said. The narcotic in Hammond's possession turned out to be 130 grams of crack cocaine. "It only takes five grams to be charged with trafficking and Mr. Hammond had way, way more than that," Sturges said. The street value of the crack cocaine Hammond was carrying was estimated at $15,600. "He had been working all over the country as a traveling magazine salesman," Sturges said.
  12. 2000 - A Newport News man was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for his role in the slaying of a door-to-door salesman last year in Ocean View. Yannick Marsala, 20, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a related gun charge. His first trial ended with a hung jury, but Marsala agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors Monday just before his second trial was to begin. In January, his accomplice, Arthur Matthews Jr., 21, of the 200 block of Maple Ave. in Newport News, received 43 years for his guilty plea to murder and gun charges. Police said he was the trigger man in the slaying. Their victim, John W. Skyles III, 31, was in town selling magazine subscriptions when he was shot to death on March 15, 2000, in a room at the Quality Inn on West Ocean View Avenue. Skyles, originally from Luther, Mich., worked for Palmetto Marketing in Coral Springs, Fla. He was here with a group of salesmen.
  13. 2000 - Three men were arrested in connection with a robbery in the parking lot of a local credit union, but only two were charged with the crime. Adam N. Sisk, 20, was charged with robbery and carrying a concealed knife. Jeffrey L. Ritter, 21, was charged with robbery, making terroristic threats and attempted first-degree sexual assault for the Sunday incident. Neither man has a permanent address. They told Judge David Bush in court Thursday that they are in town selling magazines door to door and were staying at the Relax Inn, 507 W. Second St. Both men also told Bush they were originally from Minnesota. Ritter and Sisk were employed by Atlantic Circulation Inc..
  14. 1999--A door-to-door magazine saleswoman was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to stabbing to death a Peoria man in his home.
  15. 1999 - A 31-year-old man charged with robbing and sodomizing a Tualatin woman in March was sentenced last week to 15 years, three months in prison. Robert Henry Evans admitted attacking the woman March 12 in her home in the Stafford Road area in Clackamas County. The victim, 38, bought magazines from Evans weeks earlier, police said. Evans returned to woman's home, saying he needed to clear up mistakes on her magazine order. Evans threatened to kill the woman and her young children, then forced her to perform a sex act on him, said Chris Owen, a Clackamas County deputy district attorney. Evans also stole jewelry from the woman's home.
  16. 1999—A door-to-door magazine salesman was arrested in Belleville, Il. For damage to property, trespassing, and resisting a police officer.
  17. 1999—Two door-to-door magazine salesman were arrested for burglary in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  They knocked on the door and when no one came, went around to the back and forced a patio door.
  18. 1999 - Two men selling magazines and books door-to-door in the Holland area were arraigned Wednesday on three counts of home invasion in Holland District Court. Charles Crawford, 21, and Kevin Alfred, 24, are both charged with first-degree home invasion for allegedly entering four homes in the same Park Township neighborhood Tuesday afternoon. The pair work for American Community Service, a Michigan City, Ind.-based company that drops off individuals in communities to sell books and magazines door-to-door, said Lt. Del South of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department. Crawford, of Norfolk, Va., was convicted on weapons and drug charges earlier this year in Minnesota. Alfred, of Minneapolis, Minn., has a drug-related conviction on his criminal record.
  19. 1999—West Lafayette Ind.  Antmargo Peacock, Albany Georgia,  a traveling door-to-door magazine salesman pled guilty to raping a 19 year old woman after knocking on her door attempting to sell magazine subscriptions.
  20. 1999 - Oklahoma Department of Labor fines Karleen Hillery $10,000 for labor violations committed during the March 25, 1999 van crash that killed seven sales agents and maimed five for life. Jeremy Holmes the driver of the van is charged with seven counts of vehicular homicide and five counts of feloniously causing great bodily harm to another. Holmes is sentenced to seven years in prison. Holmes did not have a valid Wisconsin drivers license. The Manager of the sales crew Choan Lane is charged with obstructing an officer, contributing to the truancy of a child, contributing to the delinquency of a child, and interference with child custody. Lane was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Holmes and Lane worked for Subscriptions Plus, Inc. a magazine sales company out of Oklahoma owned and operated by Karleen Hillery.
  21. 1998—A grand jury in Strafford County, NH indicted a door-to-door magazine salesman for felonious sexual assault and kidnapping on a 9 year-old girl.  While attempting to sell magazines in a trailer court Walter Collier, 19, of Yuma AZ. lured a nine year old girl to a wooded area on the edge of the court and held her against her will to commit the assault.  Police claim that Collier’s job enabled him to commit the alleged assault.
  22. 1998—Quinton Jackson, 21, was being held in jail in Plano, Texas for the aggravated sexual assault of a 67 year old woman.  He was working as a door-to-door salesman. Jackson worked for American Community Services.
  23. 1998 - Police charged a Bloomfield man Wednesday with attempted murder in an Aug. 2 shooting at the Travelers Inn on Main Street. Chauncey Whitehead, who police say also goes by the name Chauncey Watts, was charged after a bizarre chain of events that landed him in jail, accused not only of the East Hartford shooting but also of a 1995 slaying in Hartford. Whitehead, 20, whose address police gave as 16 Rosewood Lane, was staying at the Travelers Inn as part of a group of 58 people who were selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door for a New Jersey company, according to a police affidavit. Whitehead was working for Chapel Sales. Whitehead was a previous offender and wanted by the police. On July 1, 2000 Whitehead was sentenced to 100 years in prison for firing shots into a crowd in the city's South End and killing a man while wounding three youths. Judge sentences man in killing. Gunman gets 100-year term for 1995 shooting.
  24. 1997— Bridgette Latrice Brown, 23, while selling magazines, door-to-door in Seattle Washington asked the customer if she could use her phone.  She then turned vicious, tied her up and raped her.  Brown was charged with Second-Degree Rape and First-Degree Burglary. She was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 1998.
  25. 1997 – Bakersfield, California: 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. Holt worked for Austin Diversified Products.
  26. 1997 - The second defendant in the murders of two young magazine salesmen agreed Tuesday to a plea deal that spares him a possible death sentence in return for a lengthy prison term. Michael W. Grinnell, 25, who was to be the first death-penalty defendant in the state to go on trial, agreed to a plea bargain similar to that granted last December to a co-defendant and admitted that he murdered Adam Chesneck, 18, of Dixon, Ill., and Billy Jo Gilbert Jr., 20, of Terre Haute, Ind., last August in Genesee County. All were among a group of magazine salespeople and supervisors working in the county at the time. The only motive disclosed was that Grinnell, of Massillon, Ohio, and co-defendant Jacob R. Russell, 20, of Elk Grove, Calif., planned to rob a convenience store and feared that Chesneck and Gilbert would alert police. The robbery never occurred, and many were puzzled because the viciousness of the crime seemed so out of proportion.
  27. 1996—San Jose, California.  An 18 year-old door-to-door salesman would burglarize a home if no one was home.  He would take credit cards or individual checks and charge subscriptions. Kevin Lee Mobley worked for Palmetto Marketing, Inc. out of Coral Springs, Florida. Mobley was arrested in Rochester, Minn.. Police found stolen checks and credit cards belonging to at least 30 people.
  28. 1996—Police arrested a California salesman for allegedly molesting a young girl while trying to sell magazines in Coeur d’Alene.
  29. 1996 - Police arrested a 30-year-old door-to-door salesman Friday, saying he tied up and robbed an 88-year-old woman this week after selling her a bottle of cleaning solution. "She couldn't understand why he did that after she bought his product," said police Detective Michael Mitchell. Creston Lee Betts, who had no listed address, was held in Hillsborough County Jail Friday on $20,250 bail on charges of home invasion robbery, false imprisonment and possession of marijuana.
  30. 1995—Orlando, Fla.  Samuel Erby, 20, a magazine salesman revisited the apartment of an 88-year-old woman who turned down a subscription and attacked her.  He first tried to suffocate her with a scarf and then smother her with her hand.  When she screamed he ran away and a neighbor called 911.
  31. 1994—John James Smith, a 19 year old Illinois door-to-door salesman admitted murdering a  9-year-old Franklin, Wisconsin boy.  The boys naked body was found in brush adjoining a neighbor’s backyard.
  32. 1993—Tucson, AZ.  A 26 year-old door-to-door salesman from Vancouver was arrested for raping a woman.
  33. 1993—Seattle Washington.  Jeffrey L. Robinson, a traveling magazine salesman form Macon Georgia was held on $150,000 bail for first degree rape of a four-year-old child.
  34. 1993—Orlando Florida.  Traveling magazine salesman accused of rape.
  35. 1993—Fayetteville NC.  Magazine salesman Michael Paul Scott working for Sun Circulation murders Dennis Craig House. The jury found defendant Scott guilty of robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, and first-degree felony murder.
  36. 1992—Tucson AZ.  A traveling magazine salesman was arrested for rape of a woman who let him into her apartment while attempting to sell magazines.
  37. 1991 - 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.
  38. 1991—Portland, Ore.  Two traveling magazine salesman arrested for cutting the tips off of two cats.
  39. 1991—Bloomington, Il.  A traveling salesman was arrested for stealing checks from a customer who had been let into his living room.
  40. 1991—Hillsborough County Florida.  Carmon Eugene Lund, 26, a traveling magazine salesman was charged with raping an 18 year old woman while her 3-month old daughter was in the room.  He then tried to disconnect the baby’s breathing monitor.
  41. 1991—Woburn Mass.  A Middlesex Superior Court jury deliberated approximately two hours before finding that Darrin Whitman, 24 had killed a retired beautician, with deliberate premeditation.  Whitman was one of a large group of young persons brought into Woburn to sell magazines.  He sold a subscription to the victim earlier in the day.  Later he came back, made her undress and lie on her back before stabbing her four times, once in the heart. Whitman worked for American Community Services.
  42. 1991 - Orange County, California.  A magazine salesman is charged with raping a 15-year-old girl. A man claiming to be a magazine salesman raped a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint Tuesday in her Seal Beach home. The girl, who lives in the Old Town neighborhood, answered a knock at the door shortly before 3 p.m. from a man in his early 20s identifying himself as a representative of a magazine marketing company, Seal Beach police said. As they were talking, he pulled out a knife and raped the girl.
  43. 1990—Ames Iowa.  A 22-year-old Huron, S.D., magazine salesman was arrested in Omaha on charges of a sexual assault in Ames, Iowa.
  44. 1989—Austin TX.  A door-to-door magazine salesman from Tucson was arrested for attempted rape and burglary after forcing his way into a customer’s home.
  45. 1989 - Braintree, MA. A magazine salesman accused of raping an East Braintree woman this month was arrested by Augusta, Maine, police late Friday night and returned to Braintree, authorities said yesterday. William Sutherland, 24, of Battle Creek, Mich., was charged with rape, police said, after Maine police were told by a hotel clerk that Sutherland was in the Augusta area.
  46. 1989 - Chicago, Illinois. Michael Ray Hughes robs a door to door salesman selling magazines robs and murders Beata Lhee while selling magazines. In April of 2005 in a plea deal that spared Hughes the possibility of the death penalty, Judge James Egan sentenced Hughes to life in prison with no chance of parole for the Sept. 21, 1988, murder of Beata Lhee.
  47. 1988--American Fork Utah--A five-man, three-woman jury deliberated three hours before finding a door-to-door salesman from Chicago guilty of raping a 19 year-old American Fork woman.
  48. 1987--Opelousas La.  Roosevelt Chapman,  a 23 year old traveling magazine salesperson from  Bristol, Pa. was arrested after he stole more than $100 from a customer’s purse while she was out of the room getting change.  He will be extradited to Dayton where he is wanted on a burglary charge.
  49. 1985 - Allentown, Pa.: Mar 19, 1985. An Ohio magazine salesman has exhausted his efforts to get a new trial after being convicted of raping a 31-year-old Allentown woman. Two Lehigh County judges have disagreed with Clinton Dudley's contention that his attorney was ineffective in his April 1981 trial. A jury found Dudley guilty of rape, indecent assault and simple assault.
  50. 1982 - 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.