Carmel police are actively following the news, and the possible crimes, surrounding door-to-door solicitors in Hamilton and Marion counties.

As reported on the news, Fishers and northeast Marion County have had a series of incidents involving solicitors from a pest control company who were scouting out targets for burglaries or thefts from vehicles. Allegedly, a team consisting of a white/male and a white/female (blonde) in their 30’s are possibly driving a black SUV and are pretending to be from a pest control business called Alterra, according to a release from the Carmel Police Dept.

They then place beads on mail boxes of those residents that have dogs and then come back at a later time and commit either theft from a vehicle or a burglary.

The company name was checked and it’s a legitimate company that had 38 solicitors out June 2, all with badges in those areas, stated the release from Carmel PD.  This couple just happened to use that company name.

CPD received several calls on June 2 from Carmel residents about this couple, because the night before television news stations ran the story about solicitation burglaries.

“The Solicitor permit files were checked and we have no active permits for pest control companies,” stated a release from Carmel PD. “Unfortunately, the calls we received were all delayed and no solicitors were found.  Most callers were not even sure of the company name represented so it is unsure if our events are related.  We ask that you continue to report any solicitors that do not have an ID Badge as required by the city of Carmel.”

Here are the regulations Carmel has in place for solicitors:

• Door-to-door solicitations shall only be conducted between the hours of 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., local time.
• The license and ID cards issued by the police department do not empower the holder to ignore “No Trespassing” signs or any lawful request to not trespass on private property. This includes signs posted at the entrance to subdivisions and/or individual homes and being verbally informed by the resident or other authorized person that the solicitation is unwelcome.
• Each solicitor, employee or agent involved in the direct door-to-door solicitation shall display prominently on their outermost clothing, the issued Identification Card.
• If a solicitor uses a vehicle in solicitation activities (such as transportation to and from various locations or the actual selling from the vehicle) there must be a sign located in a conspicuous place on or in the vehicle, identifying the name of the person, company or organization that the person represents.
• The vendor and vendor’s employees and agents shall comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations while engaging in door-to-door solicitation.

Failure to follow any of these regulations could result in license revocation.

Source: Carmel Police Dept.