Sammamish police investigate case involving door-to-door salesman; officers want public's help

A wife is without her wedding ring, thanks to a burglar under investigation by several police agencies.

Sammamish police planned to submit their recommendation for charges against a 19-year-old from Pittsburgh today to the King County Prosecutor's Office, Det. Bill Albright said.

Now, officers are asking the public's help in tracking other potential criminal cases. If a door-to-door sales person does anything suspicious (not including general pushy sales tactics) such as trying doors to see whether they're locked, officers would like to hear about it. They believe there have probably been other cases that merit reporting, but which residents didn't think they should "bother" police about.

"The nature of how we grew up is 'I don't want to disturb police.' But I'd rather you call me and it's nothing than not call me at all," Albright said. If residents do notice suspicious behavior, police would like as much information as possible, including the time, date, place, descriptions of people and vehicles, license plate numbers and whether residents actually purchased anything from the salespeople.

In the case currently under investigation, a Sammamish man who lives in the 700 block of 234th Avenue Southeast returned home on the evening of Oct. 18 and noticed the screen from a second-floor window lying on the ground, Albright said. The window it came from had been left ajar by homeowners before they departed, and when the residents returned, it was wide open.

"The drawers were open, and things were disturbed," Albright said.

However, unlike a typical burglary, expensive items such as major electronics, computers and video games all were left alone. Taken were checks, earrings, two rings, a necklace and other jewelry, a black Zune, a Smart phone, a pay-as-you-go cell phone and an electronic dictionary. The total loss was less than $5,000, he said.

"They were all things you can put in your pockets," Albright said.

Most of the items were recovered, with the exception of a woman's wedding band and the Zune. Also recovered were several items not stolen from the Sammamish residence: a Kodak digital camera and two Range Rover car keys, one with a house key decorated with the American flag and a second with a Sumner Bank tag. One of the stolen checks was later forged for $100 on a magazine subscription, which is how Sammamish police were able to link the crime to the 19-year-old suspect who was arrested by Edmonds police and is also suspected in a Tumwater burglary from September. In the Edmonds case, the suspect entered a residence where someone was at home and assaulted the resident, Albright said.

For the past four or five years, Albright said he has been keeping his eye on cases that involve door-to-door salespeople. He is quick to point out that clearly most salespeople are not breaking the law.

At the time of the suspect's arrest, he was working for a company called Fresh Start Opportunities. A search of the Washington Secretary of State Web site does not reveal any valid business licenses under that name.

"We have reason to believe they might or might not still be in the area," Albright said.

Companies that employ young people to go door-to-door often bus in hundreds from other cities, put them up at a hotel, give them nicer clothes if they need them and hold "seminars" each day teaching sales techniques before dropping off salespeople in neighborhoods and picking them up later in the day, he said. They typically work six days a week, and are often required to meet a certain sales quota, Albright said.

In a separate case several years ago, Albright recalled that a check was stolen from the middle of a resident's checkbook and later written out for a magazine subscription. And, elsewhere in King County, suspects changed the amount on a victim's magazine subscription check from $41 to $441.

If Sammamish police are able to gather enough information and investigate more cases, they may also ask city officials to consider changing city ordinances governing door-to-door salespeople, or at least making them more stringent. Current city regulations require salespeople to have a "peddler's registration" from the city and also a valid government-issued ID. The suspect in this case was not registered with the city, he said.

Deputy City Clerk Stacy Herman said that requests for peddler's registrations seem to come in waves. If the individual's company already has a business license with the city, the employee is required to show valid identification and register, but are covered under their employer's business license, Herman said. Recently most registration requests have concerned tree and glass companies. The selling seems to happen seasonally, and officers have noticed some individuals who have returned to the area in more than one season or more than one year.

Albright reiterated that police would like to hear from residents anytime that salespeople appear to be breaking the law.

"People don't normally call these in or report these, and we'd like that," Albright said. "If we don't document these cases, we can't accurately track these people."

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