I'll try to be brief. I came home last evening around 8:15PM. Kari was with me. As we pulled into the drive a young hispanic kid came out from the side yard near one of the cars under a cover. He walked quickly onto the street through Dan's yard.
Kari and I knew something was amiss as he was no where near the front door, it was certainly not the time of day one would expect to see a "door-to-door" solicitor. I had her run in to check with those who were home if anyone rang the bell or was at the front door in the last few minutes. The answer was no.
I remained in the car and watched him. As soon as I knew he had not been at the front door I called MPD cell watch as he was trespassing and prowling.
I watched him go up Dan's side yard as well on the other side of his suburban. Then he looked and saw me watching then he went back towards the street. I could see that he did not go to Paul and Jill's front door. The motion detector light on Jay's house went on and I could then see the kid moving quickly from the rear side yard from Paul and Jill's house. He started back down the street.
As he got near us I asked him what he was doing on my property. His response "I'm with MHS BSO and we are doing a fund raiser".
I asked Kari if she knew him from MHS, she said no. She asked for his MHS I.D. he said he didn't go to MHS.
By then I had MPD CELL Watch on the line and was explaining what was going on. The last thing I asked for was his Monrovia Solicitors permit. He called his "boss" who told him "get the hell out of there" loud enough for me to hear.
I asked him to "please sit at the curb and wait for MPD" he opted not to. I asked him again to please sit on the curb and wait for MPD or I would press charges for trespass. He refused and pushed me to leave. AT that point Kari was on MPD.
I spoke loudly a couple of more times for him to please stop and wait for the police. He refused and said to be quiet as he knew I was trying to alert the neighbors and it wouldn't work. It did work as several of you came out to witness and one as far as to assist if needed.
His boss arrived and when he got in the van another neighbor blocked him with her truck just as MPD arrived to block them in the rear.
Long story short is if you see people where they don't belong call MPD and let them do the stopping and questioning. (I was chastised for telling him to stop more than once as my efforts to keep him for leaving could have ended badly if they had a weapon.)
A side bar to all of this is that Rob wanted additional information and officer Thompson, who was ever the best in the situation, had to cut him short so he could talk to me in private. What we learned is that our call was only one of several calls for unwanted, aggressive "solicitors" in town that were stacking up in a line on his screen. The likelihood that they all worked for the same "boss" was good and they needed to finish this call and move to the next.
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