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For years, young magazine sellers have pestered Peninsula residents, knocking repeatedly on doors, loitering on lawns and occasionally threatening people who brushed them off, police say.

Long regarded as a harmless nuisance, the sellers acquired an air of menace after police say a solicitor tried to sexually assault an 80-year-old woman inside her Menlo Park home Wednesday night.

A neighbor heard screams about 8:30 p.m., ran next door and the attacker fled. About 2 1/2 hours later, police spotted the solicitor's van in downtown Palo Alto and arrested 19-year-old Dangelo Langford of Georgia, said Menlo Park police Sgt. Mike Amaral.

The assault left the elderly woman hospitalized and her downtown Menlo Park neighborhood shaken.

Ana De Ocampo, who lives down the block from the woman, said young magazine sellers are frequently dropped off in the neighborhood and stand on residents' stoops until someone answers the door.

``They are always around here,'' she said. ``They are really persistent.''

De Ocampo described the victim of the assault as friendly and independent, striding down the street in a hat and backpack or working outside in her garden where she grows flowers and vegetables.

``Oh gosh, it makes me sick,'' De Ocampo said of the assault.

Langford also was wanted on an unrelated warrant for aggravated assault with a handgun, Amaral said.

He wasn't the only door-to-door salesman arrested: On Thursday morning, Palo Alto police stumbled upon a second member of the group and discovered he had allegedly failed to register as a sex offender. Josh Edward Davis, 24, was wanted in Polaski County, Ark.

``He's not the type of guy you want in town, especially if you don't know he's here,'' said Palo Alto police Sgt. Ron Watson.

Police say both men belonged to a group of salesmen hired by a subcontractor to peddle periodicals for American Community Services, a magazine clearinghouse based in Michigan City, Ind.

Company representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

A Palo Alto police community service officer caught Davis soliciting someone who had just had their car burglarized. The officer, Erica Spencer, checked Davis' background and discovered he was a sex offender. A call to Polaski County revealed Davis had violated probation.

In recent years, a number of magazine salesmen, including several connected with American Community Services, have been charged with crimes ranging from burglary to murder.

In January, a 23-year-old parolee from Oregon was arrested for allegedly burglarizing a home in Palo Alto while soliciting magazines, Watson said.

The same month, a 22-year-old solicitor from Pittsburgh was arrested for allegedly threatening an elderly couple in Los Altos after they invited him inside for a soda.

In June, a 17-year-old salesman for American Community Services was charged with killing a 77-year-old woman in her Toms River, N.J. home. Last year, a 23-year-old salesman connected to American Community Services admitted killing a 66-year-old woman in Knoxville, Tenn., two years earlier.

Police said American Community Services is one of several companies who hire young sellers from all over the country.

The group that was working in Menlo Park on Wednesday was on a swing through the Western United States, moving from Washington state to the Bay Area to Los Angeles, police said.

Most of the young sellers, who are recruited from all over the United States, do not commit serious crimes, though a number violate local ordinances that require solicitors to obtain city permits, police say.

The company that employed Langford and Davis did not have permits in Menlo Park or Palo Alto.

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