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Highlands Today

Sun 'N Lake Alerts Residents To Solicitors

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By Joe  Seelig | Highlands Today

Published: December 19, 2007

SEBRING — Residents of the Sun 'n Lake of Sebring Improvement District have been alerted to call the Highlands County Sheriff's Office in the event a solicitor knocks at the door trying to sell cleaning or other services.

Door-to-door solicitation is not allowed in the district, said Ileana Martinez, administrative service coordinator.

"Residents have called in to complain," Martinez said Tuesday.

That's what prompted the district to send out an e-mail alert about a woman in a white van with four males inside going around soliciting carpet and/or cleaning of any kind.

"A very pushy white woman with no credentials has been going around, 'Please let me inside; come on, I need to make sales.'"

The residents would respond, I don't have carpets and she would respond "Well let me do your couch," Martinez said.

"Well then let me do your beds," she added.

Meanwhile the van was parked up the street, she said.

"We have no solicitation within the district, so when security sees them they run them off," Martinez said.

The van was seen as late as Monday, she said.

An employee at the Sun 'n Lake district office reported a female and a male were soliciting soap products in her neighborhood on Sunday, according to Sam Henderson, director of public safety. By the time the sheriff's office was called they were gone.

"The sheriff's office had been contacted every time we've had (a complaint)," Henderson said. "We're always looking for solicitors and running them out."

In light of the recent murder of Samuel M. Tiller, 82, in a neighborhood community behind Wal-Mart, the district is playing it safe.

Tiller was murdered early in the morning on Nov. 24, in his Falcon Avenue home. Solicitors had been seen in the neighborhood the week prior to the murder and the Highlands County Sheriff's Office investigated their possible involvement.

A Heartland Crime Stoppers flyer stated that Tiller may have interrupted a burglary in progress, before he was shot to death.

Sheriff's Lt. Tim Lethbridge said Tuesday the sheriff's office had no role in the e-mailing by the district.
"It's not something the sheriff's office is putting out in connection with the Tiller homicide," Lethbridge said.

The sheriff's office did alert the public about its desire for information about door-to-door salesmen, he said.

The sheriff's office is not saying that vehicle or any particular vehicle has been connected to the Tiller homicide, Lethbridge said.

"These could very well just be pushy salesmen," he said.

The district security office can be reached at 863-382-2196.
The sheriff's office can be reached by calling 863-402-7200.
The telephone number for Heartland Crime Stoppers is 1-800-226-TIPS (8477).

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