Don’t Open the Door to Magazine Salespeople!

If you see a stranger at your door, and he says he is selling magazines, best not to open the door.

On Friday Kieth Byrd blogged on his Keith Byrd Team’s SLO Real Estate Blog that magazine sales scam artists are making rounds in San Luis Obispo:

There’s a door-to-door magazine sales firm in the area called Urban Nation. They are based in Texas. If you Google them, you’ll see that they’ve had complaints for not delivering magazines purchased and the phone number they give is just an answering machine. They came to my door today and didn’t even have the required permit from the city. BEWARE!

The today, I just saw this story in the Times Press Recorder today:

Magazine salesman arrested for alleged attempted rape and burglary in Nipomo

A 22-year-old man who was selling magazines on Spruce Lane in Nipomo this afternoon was arrested on suspicion of attempting to rape a woman he tried to get to buy magazines.

Rafael Deshawn Joseph was booked into County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail after sheriff’s deputies caught him shortly after 1 p.m. fleeing the Spruce Lane area, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Joseph allegedly went to the unidentified woman’s home, knocked on the door, attempted to sell her magazines and then asked to use her bathroom, said Rob Bryn, Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

The woman, who was home alone with her young children, let Jospeh into her home and was showing him where the bathroom was located, when he allegedly pulled out a gun and demanded sex from her, Bryn said.

A struggle between the two ensued, with Joseph dropping the gun and fleeing the woman’s house. Deputies recovered the replica handgun inside the woman’s home, Bryn said.

Joseph, who was also booked on charges of burglary, is employed by Urban Nation Enterprises.

Bryn cautioned people to not let unknown persons into their homes, as various criminals use ruses such as needing to use the bathroom to gain access to and commit a violent crime.

I searched for information on Urban Nation Enterprises and found nothing. That would make me believe that the organization is bogus.

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