HOUSTON -- In one upscale neighborhood near the Galleria, there recently was a rash of home burglaries that seemed awfully peculiar.

“It’s such a coincidence that where ever they show up with a cell phone, there is a burglary right next door,” resident Henry de La Garza said.

And residents like de La Garza told 11 News all of the clues and pointed to a group of young suspects who were staying at a nearby Ramada Inn.

“And they are dangerous,” he said.

He’s talking about door-to-door magazine salespeople.

“They are soliciting under false pretenses,” another resident said.

So 11 News decided to investigate. Our first plan was to simply follow one of their vans into a neighborhood, so we could observe them working.

But the driver noticed we were behind him and pulled into a parking lot. So we asked him a question:

“Hey, can you tell me who I need to talk to about magazine sales?” I said.

And right at that very moment, one of the salesmen grabbed our camera and took off running.

When he overheard me calling 911, he gave it back. The Houston Police Department arrived, checked out the video and handcuffed the suspect.

Door-to-door magazine sales companies have been around for years.

They advertise in newspapers and magazines across the country, looking for employees, promising them good money and a chance to see the country.

But activist Earlene Williams, who runs a help group called Parent Watch, claims she receives a lot of complaints from their young workers.

“I am probably getting about 10 e-mails or phone calls a day,” she said. “Some from abandoned people, some who want to leave — and some from parents trying to get their kids home.”

She says many call because they have no money to get home.

“The kids get a daily draw for food and it can be nothing to $20 a day,” Williams said. “And they work 60 to 80 hours a week.”

“It was too good to be true,” a salesman, who didn’t want his identity revealed, said. He traveled to Houston with the magazine crew and quit.
He said his coworkers were doing drugs.

“On coke, crack,” he said.

He also said they all had criminal records and claims they continued their unlawful ways.

“They said they don’t hire felons, but they are all felons,” he said.

He said he watched his trainer break into a house.

“No one answered the door,” he said. “He went and jumped the fence, kicked in the back door. …I left because I didn’t want no part of it.”

But not everyone agrees with his strong statements.

Searching, we came across Michelle, a salesperson from Detroit.

“Well I don’t want you guys just giving us a bad name,” she said. “I don’t know if you are going to re-word my words, but I mean please don’t because this is what I am saying: Our crew is a good crew.”

Michelle gave us her whole sales pitch.

While researching this topic, we can across stories of fatal drug overdoses, attacks, rape and even murder, involving magazine sales crews.

But more than 20 years after a Senate investigation into the industry, they are still unregulated.

“The problem is, there are no laws protecting home owners from these people,” one resident said.

So the next time they come back to Houston, de La Garza said he’s going to warn all his neighbors.

Some who said they felt sorry for people like Michelle and placed an order said they’re still waiting for their magazine.