Posted on 03/05/2005 6:35:14 AM PST by cbkaty
Pasadena police on Friday were looking for a man who they said sold fake newspaper subscriptions, including one to the Houston Chronicle, to area residents earlier this week.
According to Pasadena police, a man was going door-to-door in the 5000 block of Fairdale Street about 6 p.m. Thursday posing as a newspaper subscription salesman.
At one home, the man, described as being between 30 and 40 years old, told a resident she could renew her subscription to the Pasadena Citizen for $10 a month, police spokesman Martin DeLeon said.
The man asked the 61-year-old resident to write a check for $60 but to make it out to his boss, which she did.
The woman's neighbor called her a short time later and asked if she had bought a subscription. The neighbor said she had just paid the man $60 for a subscription to the Chronicle.
The 43-year-old neighbor called the number listed on her receipt. The person who answered said he did not know the man and was not associated with the Chronicle, DeLeon said.
Barbara Henshaw, marketing and communications coordinator for the Chronicle, said any person selling subscriptions door-to-door has a photo ID indicating the person is a contract worker for the Chronicle.
She also said salesmen have order forms with the Chronicle logo and a numbered receipt book.
Customers are asked to sign the receipt and are given a copy, she said.
The suspect was described as being about 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing between 170 to 180 pounds. He was wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans and a baseball cap.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Pasadena Police Department at 713-477-1221 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
If I were a union thug working ffor one of the newspapers, I'd say that the sale of the false subscriptions in Houston was something done by the newspaper itself. However, it was just some clever brother working a hustle that, afterward, makes observers say to themselves, "Geez, if he'd only use that creativity for some good purpose..."
However, it's critically important that we not mention his race so that citizens are on the lookout for people of all races that fit this description.
I still find it bizarre that a city or 4 million has only one newspaper with a circulation of 1/2 million..... The market is ripe and ready for pickin....
The Comical will eventually fold just like the Post.....unless.....they WAKE THE F___ UP and print news on the front page instead of opinion.....
Chronicle circulation figures are of the same fictional character as many of their "news" articles. When a paper fakes circulation figures and articles it should come as no surprise that there are fake subscriptions out there. Some of them may even have been sold by someone not connected to the newspaper.
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