By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff
One salesman has been arrested and others are sought in a multi-jurisdictional magazine scam. As many as 50 people could be involved.
“We know they were working Wythe County and Wytheville on Thursday,” noted Wythe County Sheriff Doug King. “We’ve had calls from Radford and Christiansburg about the same activities.”
According to him, a group of young men and women is traveling in a van into area neighborhoods. The salesmen, young and well-dressed, are let out of the vehicle to sell magazine subscriptions with the van returning for them later.
“They’re taking checks and cash for a company called American Circulation Enterprises out of Michigan City, Ind.,” King reported. “I don’t know if there’s any such place.”
Acting on a call to Ivanhoe Road on Thursday, deputies arrested Jerry W. Cooper Jr., 22, of East St. Louis, Ill, around 12:30 p.m. They charged him with obtaining money by false pretenses.
The suspect, King said, told some potential subscribers he was a student at Virginia Tech and told others he was a student at Radford University. Cooper also said he was selling the magazines to win a trip, according to the sheriff.
Cooper is being held at the New River Valley Regional Jail in Dublin. His bond is set at $1,500.
“We ask anyone who might have been taken by the scam or who might have been approached to call the appropriate authorities,” King stated. “We also want to alert people to this scam.”
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or wquesenberry@wythenews.com.
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