The Daily Record [Lebanon, MO]
10 July 2013
LPD, company rep say students are selling actual
products
By Julie Turner-Crawford
The Daily Record
Rumors of a kidnapping ring from Oklahoma sweeping in
on local families is nothing more than a rumor.
Detective Tim Early, the LPD’s public information
officer, told The Daily Record Tuesday that there is a legitimate company in
the Lebanon area with representatives who are selling educational supplies
door-to-door.
Early said officers have spoken with the persons who
are selling products and have found no reason to believe that there is any sort
of illegal activity.
He added that there have been no reports of missing or
kidnapped children. […]
The Patriot-News [PA]
11 July 2013
Jeffrey A. Johnson
Police in York County said they are investigating a
rumor being circulated on Facebook that a group of foreign students selling
educational materials door-to-door are part of a ring trying to abduct
children.
There is no evidence to support the rumor that the
students are involved in any type of scheme to abduct or harm children,
according to a news release from Northern York Regional police.
The students involved all attend universities in
eastern Europe and are all legally in the country, police said. They work for a
company called Southwestern Advantage Publishing Group and police said they
have applied for the required soliciting permits in Dover and Manchester Twp. […]
KJTV-TV [Lubbock, TX]
17 July 2013
The Express-Times [Easton, PA]
17 July 2013
Hunterdon County Democrat [NJ]
18 July 2013
KWTV [Oklahoma City, OK]
18 July 2013
By Evan Anderson
MUSTANG, Oklahoma - Aggressive salesmen are targeting
metro neighborhoods and some fear the men may have ties to human trafficking.
So far, they've been spotted in Yukon, Mustang, and El Reno.
[…] Brandon Bowers, wrote, "What alarmed me was
his first words out of his mouth, ‘Hello Sir, I'm not here to harm your family,
I just want to show you my product.'" […]
The Chanute Tribune [KS]
30 July 2013
Facebook buzz has prompted police investigations in
the Joplin area and in Montgomery County after reports of alleged sex
traffickers circulating in the area. […]
The sheriff did say that there is information about
people going door to door for the sale of books and magazine subscriptions. […]
Star-Herald [Scottsbluff, NE]
5 August 2013
By MAUNETTE LOEKS New Media Editor
A story about “heavy-accented men” going to homes in
Scottsbluff to kidnap children for a sex-trafficking scheme is false. […]
WDAF-TV [Kansas City, MO]
7 August 2013
by Gia Vang
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. – A company in the middle of an
internet rumor that’s swept through the metro is setting the record straight
Wednesday.
Residents said the door-to-door sales people claim to
sell educational books. But they said the sales people are very aggressive and
ask suspicious questions, sometimes about their kids. Some online comments have
even gone as far to say these sales people are a part of a human trafficking
ring.
Trey Campbell, a company spokesperson for Southwestern
Advantage, said it all started on Facebook. He said there was a rumor started
by someone near Tulsa, Okla. Campbell said it spread from there to others
states, including Missouri, where similar suspicious stories popped up. […]
WAND-TV [Decatur, IL]
13 August 2013
DECATUR-A post on Facebook has many local parents
worried. It suggests booksellers going door to door in the area may be part of
a sex trafficking ring and are looking for children. […]
Reporter-Telegram [Midland, Texas]
21 August 2013
By Paul Wiseman
Timo Aleste left his home and family in the Estonian
city of Tallinn to come to America to sell books door to door for
Nashville-based Southwestern Advantage. This year marks his seventh summer to
make that costly trek, all done at his own expense.
There has always been the occasional, “Go back where
you came from,” response from residents, but this year has been particularly
challenging due to a Facebook rumor that, according to Aleste and to
Southwestern Advantage spokesman Trey Campbell, apparently started at the
beginning of the summer in Oklahoma. The rumor was that they were Russians who
were asking about the presence of children in the neighborhood in order to
kidnap them. As the summer progressed, the rumor grew, and one Midland version
insinuated that they were Russian spies. […]
Portales News-Tribune [NM]
23 August 2013
By Robin Fornoff
CMI PROJECTS EDITOR
Clovis police say a warning about a man trying to
abduct area children is a Facebook hoax.
The report apparently duped police at Eastern New
Mexico University and campus security at Clovis Community College.
On Thursday, CCC Director of Campus Security Freddie
Salazar passed along an email received from ENMU police and warning of
“individual(s) of potential foreign decent (sic) attempting to sell children’s
books … attempting to obtain information about children … for the purpose of
human trafficking or abduction.” […]
Anchorage Daily News [AK]
28 August 2013
By ZAZ HOLLANDER
Authorities getting panicky calls about heavily
accented booksellers targeting Valley children are debunking the rumors going
around Anchorage and the Mat-Su.
There's no criminal gang of Russian-speaking people
using school-supply sales as a ruse to steal children from their homes, they
said. […]
KFSM-TV [Fort Smith, AR]
28 August 2013
Alicia Agent
[…] Facebook posts, many of which have since been
removed, tell the story of a woman named Becky whose 9-year-old saw the book
salesmen knocking on her bedroom window late at night in Faulkner County. The
post goes on to say two little boys have already been kidnapped from the area.
However, there are currently no active Amber Alerts in Arkansas, according to
the Arkansas State Police website.
The same story popped up in Franklin County this week,
but sheriff Anthony Boen said his office has received no reports of missing
children or suspicious activity in the area. […]
KARK-TV [Little
Rock, AR]
29 August 2013
BENTON COUNTY, AR
-- A door-to-door salesman is working to set the record straight after a rumor
claiming he was a human trafficker went viral.
"His face is
out on Facebook right now saying he's this ring leader for human trafficking...
It was shared more than 2,500 times in just in a matter of a day," said
Deputy Keisha Guyll with the Benton County Sheriff's Department.
"I felt like
there was some kind of suspicious thing going on, they think I'm kind of like a
bad guy here," said Mirko Kruusma, a door-to-door salesman for children's
books. […]
Victoria Advocate
[Texas]
4 September 2013
Jessica Priest
[…] The rumor
originated in Tulsa, Okla., after a woman posted something on Facebook in July
that was shared more than 10,000 times, said Trey Campbell, the company's
director of communications.
"It's kind of
like the telephone game," Campbell said. "We did have the originator
take the post down with help from local law enforcement, but there's not really
any consequences. You can post anything to social media and get away with it if
you're vague enough. ... There are libel and defamation laws, but you can't
spin your wheels doing that. As a company, we're not going to pursue anything
like that. We just want the truth to get out."
The company was
forced to pull out of Oklahoma because the rumors created a safety issue for
its students, who come to the United States to earn money for school, learn
English and hone their entrepreneurial skills. […]
The Sentinel
[Hanford, CA]
5 September 2013
Social media rumor
makes local rounds
By Mike Eiman
HANFORD — A rumor
about door-to-door book sales has some local parents concerned for the safety
of their children. Western Christian School Principal Kelly Virden said she’s
heard from several concerned parents over the fast few days. The parents
reportedly encountered a woman with a European accent selling educational books
door to door. […]
KBZK-TV [Bozeman,
MT]
13 September 2013
MTN News
For several days,
MTN's Great Falls station has received reports of two men attempting to kidnap
children in Glacier County. […]
The two men are
described as white males, 20's - 30's, tall, blond hair and having Russian
accents. […]