They say the company, Michigan City, Ind.-based American Community Services, has "repeatedly violated the city ordinance [on door-to-door solicitations], typically each summer," and one violator reportedly told police that "getting arrested for attempting to sell magazines" was the "cost of doing business."
The company has a history of allegedly violating local solicitation laws across the country, including complaints that subscriptions that were paid for but never delivered.
In 1998, a Churchill, Pa., resident reportedly wrote a check to an ACS salesman for $32, but later learned when the check was returned, $200 had been added to the amount.
In Newton, police are seeking complaints against a 24-year-old Oak Grove, La., man for failing to register to peddle door-to-door, after police spotted the man selling magazines on Beacon Street and Grant Avenue on May 20 around 8:15 p.m.
The man said he was working with Horizons Two Inc. and American Community Services Inc. Neither company is registered to solicit in Newton.
Police found a Best Western hotel room key on the man, but the man said he did not know which hotel he was staying at, and police could not determine which hotel he was staying at after calling local Best Westerns.
The man said he was scheduled to be picked up in a van in front of the Starbucks coffee shop on Beacon Street, but no van ever arrived.
Three days later, on May 23, four more people were stopped near Caroline Park for allegedly selling magazines door-to-door without a permit. All of them reportedly told police they were working for American Community Services Inc.
One of the four people, New York state resident Wayne Montford, 19, was arrested on a warrant out of Lynn District Court. The other three, a 19-year-old North Carolina woman, a 20-year-old North Carolina man and a 22-yer-old Louisiana man, received summonses for violating the city ordinance against door-to-door solicitation.
Police also stopped a 32-year-old Illinois man and a 34-year-old Indiana man on Brae Burn Road and Collins Road, respectively, that same day, and are also seeking complaints against them for violating the city's solicitation law. Police learned that American Community Services transports the solicitors from a Best Western in Auburn and drops them off in Newton with a list of houses to solicit, picking them up hours later at a Starbucks on Beacon Street.
Police are also seeking a hearing against the company for the repeated violations.
In addition to allegations that a check written to ACS salesman in Pennsylvania in 1998 for $32 was changed to $232, two men who said to be working for the company in Park Township, Mich., in 1999 were charged with several home break-ins. One of the two was convicted of one count of first-degree home invasion.
In 2002, a 22-year-old New Yorker, who had traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., with ACS, was charged with first-degree murder and rape of a 66-year-old grandmother.
A call to ACS for comment was not returned.
Police Officer David Spirito, working in the department's Community Relations Division, said each of the perpetrators would be charged individually, but could not comment on what course of action the department may take against the company.
Bernie Smith can be reached at user besmith at domain cnc.com.
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Revision r1.1 - 04 Jun 2005 - 07:20 by EliMantel
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