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This man was lost
11/12/2009 6:38 AM by John M
Anybody else see the magazine man?
Very weird occurrence Tuesday night on Princess Anne. A man knocked on our side door at 10:45 PM asking for directions to “Parham & Ridge.” He stated that a magazine company dropped him off in our neighborhood & he needed to now get to Parham & Ridge. He seeme surprised at how far away that is. He apologized for startling us & seemed nice enough. He was carrying papers- for magazines he was selling maybe. We weren’t sure if we should feel bad for him or be freaked out. Wondering if he went to any other houses or if others saw anything strange.
I wonder if he was working for one of the magazine companies that drops vanloads of teenagers in neighborhoods to go door-to-door, and they forgot him? Sort of like “Open Water,” but in Jefferson Park instead.
i’ve seen this guy before near chimborazo pk- he was doing a ‘magazine gig’ awhile back- when i saw him day before yesterday he had that same lost characteristic, but a different story. nice, polite, spaced out, coordination ‘off’..
I think this same man also knocked on my door Tuesday night in the 900 block of N. 26th. I think I recall seeing the name “Christopher Lewis” on his paperwork. He was indeed trying to sell magazines as part of some scholarship program for college (he claimed that he goes to school in Chicago). Overall, he was very nice. I hope he was able to find a way to get to Parham and Ridge.
He rang my front doorbell at 11:05pm with the same story. He seemed nice enough but he said they were supposed to pick him up at 730 and left him here. My gut feeling was it was a made up story to get money and I told him I couldn’t help him. He did say he was from Chicago.
Wonder how that went.. “uh Yeah go 2 blocks over to Broad Street hang a Right go up 10 miles turn left on Parham Rd.” Hope he made it.
Yeah, I saw him outside of Shockoe Espresso earlier in the evening. He asked me the same thing, then told me thanks and gave me a fist bump.
He knocked on our front/side window (Princess Anne) around that time, as well. We had our porch freshly painted that day so this was his only alternative since it was roped off. Definitely a strange occurrence. Seemed nice enough, but definitely disconcerting when a stranger is banging on your window late at night. Be safe, people.
With knocking on doors so late at night… did anyone call the police non emergancy line to report?
The original message and the post by ChrisF refer to the same “side door” knocking experience on Princess Anne. ChrisF didn’t know his wife wrote in to CHPN. 😉
Bill- I suggested to him at 10:45 PM that he head to the gas station at 18th and Broad to use their phones and perhaps secure a ride. He thanked me and moved on. If he knocked on your door 20 minutes later I guess he didn’t take my advice. Also, hearing that he was repeatedly telling the same story makes me think it was made up.
I didn’t call the non-emergency police number because I was still on the fence about this guy and wondered if he was telling the truth. Now I wish I had. Also, he wasn’t a teenager– at least in his 20’s I’d say.
I have the police non emergencey number program in cell phone… rather make a silly call then regret I never made it.
I’m just uncomfortable with unknown folks knocking on my door late at night.
At 1 am he knocked on my door in the 100 block of 29th. (The boy gets around.) I told him he should not be knocking at this hour. He left. I flashed my porch light at a passing police car but he didn’t see it. Then called 911. Ten minutes later he was back. He told me he had been dropped off at 8 that same night. And that his ride must have left him. He tried to engage me in conversation. I told him to move on and again, called 911…this time with a better description for the police. I never opened the door. Two officers came and I filed a report but that was the end of that. Advice:Get a big loud dog and NEVER open the door.
You know…of all the neighborhoods to be wandering around at 1am, I probably wouldn’t pick Church Hill. This is a strange story!
Sounds like he was looking for a house to break into. Trying to a find a house where no one answered the door.
In regards to Christopher Lewis, he was selling magazine subscriptions, but parted ways with the company. He had no ties to the area nor did he have any money. Currently, he is being held in the Richmond City Jail on a trespassing charge. The college story was not true. The company he worked for told him to use that as a selling tactic.
I had the magazine guy knocking on Tuesday night, 800 block of 27th, but he had a cast on his right arm. Did anyone else have the guy with a cast?
TimH
That was Christopher Lewis. He had a cyst removed from his hand at MCV.
Yes, the man that came to my house had a cast. Karen, how do you know all that info?
Any relation to Sterling Lewis- the guy who broke into Church Hill and Newport News houses- some during the day?
My husband is a Richmond Police Officer. He was telling me about it.
It may seem rude to some of you, however, I have sheers on my front door.
If I see anyone at my door I don’t know, I “NEVER” open the door. It can be 2pm in the afternoon or 2am, the door doesn’t get opened. If I go to the door at all and don’t recognize the person through the sheers. I tell them “you’re at the door, and need to move on.” We get hit up for money all the time living in church hill, and I’m quite sick of it.
Things like this never happens to friends of mine who live out by CCV.
Let it start happening out there, and the police would do something about it.
OK, now this is TOTALLY weird! About 9pm this guy, fitting y’all’s descriptions above (tho I didn’t know that when i saw him,) is walking east on Jefferson Ave as I’m walking to my studio on the corner of 24th.
We make eye contact, we say hello, i keep walking toward my front door.
Then, he says “Excuse me, but are you from Richmond?” I say “yes” and he says “I’m from Chicago, can you tell me how to get to Regency Square?”
By this time, I’ve got my key in the door and he’s walking toward me. I’m a little freaked, so I laughed loud enough to startle him and I say “ha! your reputation preceeds you!”
He gets huffy and says “What do you mean?”. I didn’t answer, by that time I was inside and locking the door behind me.
Weird as s__t! This guy is definately still walking the neighborhood.
This is really weird but my boyfriend just left to give this guy a ride to Regency. I’m honestly a little freaked though because my boy left his phone here. Hopefully he’ll come back alive and intact…
Hmm, first post on this thread was Nov. 12, today is Nov. 20 – the guy hung around here for 8 days trying to get a ride? Carolyn, I hope your boyfriend is okay, too….why don’t you post when he gets back (hopefully safe and sound) and let us know if the story about needing a ride seems true now that he’s had the ride?
Is he back safe??? What is his story?
Hey, everyone including crd and Bill C, he’s back and OK. The power went out shortly after I posted that and since that was a weird coincidence I went outside where my neighbors had collected and we talked about this “magazine man”, since everyone seems to know about him. Todd came back after about an hour.
He said he took the guy to a Ramada Inn at Regency and the “magazine man” went inside the lobby. Todd drove around the building to exit, rather than multi-point turn around and the “magazine man” was leaving the lobby, headed back outside. I’m sure he’s knocked on some doors since. I dare him to show his face at my door again; he’ll get a firm yelling at!
Sunday 11/22 at 9am. I was walking my doggie on Canal Street in front of Morton’s steakhouse. I saw a 4 door Jeep pull up beside a car parked behind Sine. The passenger talked with the man in the parked car. I continued to walk. The jeep pulled up beside me and stopped. A man wearing a black jacket and a black do-rag got out of the passenger side and approached me. My dog went into her protect mood, fur went up, her big girl bark come out, and she locked onto this man with her eyes. He gave me a story about how he was selling magazines and the company had screwed him over. He was trying to get back to his Ramada hotel on Parham. He went on to explain that he had spent the night in MVC, but he was better now. The gentleman driving the jeep was someone he had meet at MCV who had agreed to give him a ride back to the hotel but he needed a little gas money. Twenty minutes later I saw the same man that approached me, approach another person who was taking a photo of the water fountain in front of the Shockoe coffee shop. I came across the jeep with the driver chilling behind the wheel 3 blocks away. Looks like the modus operandi has changed slightly but not much. The jeep was gone by the time the RPD got there.
Thanks to this great thread and the fact he called it MCV not VCU (isn’t that what they call the hospital now? So to say MCV means you have been in Richmond a while) I knew this was a gimmick to get money. Thanks to all who posted.
Different story, different guy, but twice within the past 5 days I’ve had someone knock on my door or pull over in a car and ask me directions to the Grayhound Bus Station. Just this evening some guy did this and I told him how to get there but I didn’t let him ask me the favor he wanted to ask of me. He promptly went three door down and asked the same thing. We know this because we call the non-emergency police number (646-5100) to report this and they already had other reports coming in. Bottom line, keep reporting this suspicious activity because the police do respond and keep their eyes peeled.
ran into “Chris” tonight as I was distributing fliers for my lost pomeranian (Pony- 14 years old black and white gal last seen at 22nd and M on 11-23-2009). the guy was cooking up some story about needing $$$ to get to the bus station, that he had been selling magazines, that he was from chicago, etc. something smelt fishy. met him on 25th near the post office – don’t think he is “dangerous”, just a scam artist. HEADS UP!!!