Integrity Program book sales door to door uses neighbors names Cypress Texas

i live in a gated neighborhood in cypress, tx -- a suburb of houston. our names are on the call box at the entrance, next to our address. although you need a code to enter, the gates were open to let in the school buses.

a BALD 'man' rang my bell. i went to the door, and asked through the glass what he wanted. he said he was the son of one of my neighbors, "linda." we only have 41 houses, and one street -- horshoe shaped -- with an two entrance/exits. he said my neighbor [by name] sent him down. he said he was a student at the university of houston (uofh) and suddenly, "are you a couger fan??" i said not really. i asked again who he was related to. we often buy from the children in our neighborhood for school fundraisers, but soliciting is forbiden.

he said he was linda's son (we have no linda), in between [he named two more neighbors]. i recognized one, one i didn't know. he went on saying that he was working toward something about sending books to students in england that would not be able to make it home for christmas -- and kept repeating that he was embarrassed because his mother made him do this. i kept on trying to pin him down on who he was, but he kept dropping names and fanned out several checks that had definitely been written by my neighbors. most were for close to $100, some over, a couple around $45 -- which was the lowest thing you could do. yes, we all feel obligated to buy from the kids.

i then asked him to please get on with it, but he said he had to tell me everything. confused at how old he looked, i asked if he was the husband or the son? he jumped back laughing and said, "I'M A KID!!! well, i'm 25 . . ." i said 25 is not a kid. he kept on talking about my neighbors, said his mother hadn't been able to get to know the neighbor next door. i said she doesn't come to the get togethers and he said, yea, she's anti-social . . .haha." he told all my neighbors that he these books were being sent to children's hospitals. $45 books, please.

i STILL wanted to pin down who he belonged to (i wasn't caught up in the scheme even yet -- just wanted to know!!). i kept asking about his mother, and he said you know her, she drives that mercedes [some number] (later, my daughter said that car is not even out yet), etc.

i said i had to go tend to my girls, could he give me something to read and he litterally blew a gasket! as he backed down my walk, he yelled, "it only took 30 seconds for [neighbor] to write me a check, and it only took less than that for [neighbor] to write me a check!! he became beligerent!! i told him too bad and to stuff it. that is when i knew i had been skammed.

i called the neighbors whose names he was throwing around and sure enough, he had been written at least 5 checks over $100 +. one neighbor told him she didn't have her check book, and only had $40. he said he would just take that. and he did. most of them are going to stop payment on the checks if it's not too late. after speaking to them, i jumped in the car to see if i could find him and head him off before he got to the street outside of our neighborhood, but he was gone. a great day's payoff.

all he had to do was get to the banks. the website is fake. i guess he had been picked up by then. i wish i had played along and called the police before he got away. i can't believe my neighbors let go of that much money that easy! they all said they felt obligated because he claimed to be somebody's son. he even spoke about our neighbor that had cancer like he knew him!! he had been told by the wife that her husband had cancer and she couldn't buy anything. that's how he got that info. as for me, my neighbor was on the way to acting class with her daughter. he then made himself a drama major, so she sent him to me wtih that story because my children are in to that as well.

i have notified all the neighboods around me -- i would be more than happy to cooperate with any law enforcement that would take him down.

Suse
cypress, Texas
U.S.A.