« Postcards From Moab | Main | Obama: I don't speak Austrian »
April 6, 2009
Selling Magazines?
.jpg)
This guy came to my front door today. He claimed he was selling magazines for a company in Golden. I saw him through my peephole first. Then, I noticed there was no car in the driveway. So, I'm not clear what the game is here. I've seen stories about vans of people going around the country selling magazine subscriptions, however, so I'm wary of them.
Especially since the guy is selling them in the middle of the day and people up here work for a living. Everyone I know is down the hill busting their butts trying to make ends meet. Either that, or they're retired. So, my role here is neighborhood watch.
I went after the guy with an AR-15 and a 30 round magazine and a Canon EOS 40D with a 400 mm lens.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" I asked him.
"I'm through with school," he answered. That's gangster-speak for "I dropped out." I learned that living in Mississippi. When someone graduates, they say "I graduated." When they dropped out, they say "I'm through with school" or "I'm not in school any more."
When I tried to take his photo, he immediately turned away and put up his hoodie, which obviously makes me more suspicious. If he's legit, then why does he keep turning away from the camera and putting on his hoodie?
He went to Bud's house and Mark's house and eventually, I cornered him at Bob & Vaunne's. I got some good shots of his face and told him to clear out. Neal came out and saw the guy and spoke to him also. I told Neal I thought it was a scam.
The stranger told me to call the cops or leave him alone. I'm sure he saw my AR-15 and I told him: "We don't call the police, buddy. We take care of things a little differently up here. Now you'd best get your @ss back down to Aurora. Pronto. Comprende?"
The stranger started dog-cussing me and approached me to instigate a fight, but Neal shouted at him to leave and the guy reconsidered and left. I was very glad to have Neal there to back me up.
The stranger stormed away and lit up a cigarette. He started walking up the road toward Karl and Ruby's house, but it was too steep for him and he got winded and turned around and walked back downhill toward Jan and Len's.
I don't know what he got out of all of this but hopefully he understands that this is not a good neighborhood to be casing out. Note to criminals - I will use deadly force to protect my property. Stay out of our neighborhood.
Update: This is probably the scam in question: Great Lakes Circulation, Box 1833, Golden, Colorado 18333. Note that the address is a P.O. Box, not a street address.
Update 2: Apparently, this is a nationwide scam that operates under various aliases and local addresses.
Update 3: I think we have tentatively identified this guy as someone that grew up in the general area, but isn't in school and is possibly having a difficult time finding his way. If I'd known who he was, and if he was dressed in something other than a hoodie and baggie jeans, I might have been inclined to help him. Under the circumstances, however, I was not comfortable with him wandering through our neighborhood. If the kid is who we think he is, then I sincerely hope he finds his way.
(High res version of photo in the extended entry.)
Posted by Rob Kiser on April 6, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Comments
"30 round clip"
I hate to be pedantic about this, but given the title of post, I can't resist. It should be "30 round magazine."
Now if some guy was trying to sell me 30 round magazines, I might be interested in his sales pitch.
Posted by: Robert R. on April 6, 2009 at 6:18 PM
You are correct. I've updated the post accordingly.
Posted by: Rob Kiser on April 6, 2009 at 10:46 PM