Recent assault by salesman can serve as wake-up call
Morgan Hill – A Dec. 5 incident in which a door-to-door salesman allegedly slapped a Morgan Hill resident is arousing interest in the community for more information about how these types of vendors operate and the regulations under which they operate.
The salesman, Alan Amerson, 41, of Chicago, was arrested by Morgan Hill police officers on suspicion of battery. Another man in the group of purported magazine salespeople was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance; two other men in the group were also arrested after a teenage girl, missing from Colorado for three months, was found to be traveling with the group.
Most door-to-door sales people in Morgan Hill probably don’t have business licenses authorizing them to sell, according to city officials, but most of them also do not assault their potential clients.
While they legitimately may be selling magazines, vacuum cleaners or other items for real companies, these vendors should have a license to do business in the city of Morgan Hill, said Jack Dilles, Morgan Hill’s director of finance.
The city application requires information such as who owns the business and the business address, before the license is entered into the system. The city does not do a thorough background check on the business; the license is a means to allow the person or group to do business in the city.Â
Dilles said the city charges an application fee of $49, and the tax is $60 for six months. From the city’s perspective, he said, the answers to those business questions are the focus. If the business is door-to-door sales, Dilles said, the city typically asks for the names of all the solicitors.
Morgan Hill police Sgt. David Swing said that while there may be some door-to-door salespeople that are not legitimate, there are salespeople who are.
“It’s a judgment call, really, and each person has to make a decision based on their level of comfort,” he said.
In the incident involving the missing teen, a resident was curious about the teen, who was selling magazines with a group because, he said, “something felt wrong;” he found the girl’s picture on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Web site and contacted police.
The 17-year-old girl was taken to a children’s shelter to wait for her family to pick her up.
Dilles said Friday that the city has six licenses on file for street peddlers, a classification that includes door-to-door sales, as well as individual vendors such as ice cream trucks.
While reiterating that to open the door to a stranger or not is a matter of personal judgment, Swing did say that perhaps opening the door with a cordless phone in hand is a good idea.
“That way, if it is someone needing help, you have the phone there and can ask, ‘who can I call for you,’ or, if it is someone that is questionable, the fact that you have the phone in hand and can quickly call police may be a deterrent in itself,” he said.
