Beware the Door-to-Door Newspaper Salesman

LOS ANGELES POLICE patrol cars are out tonight in Atwater Village looking for a door-to-door con artist who claims to be selling subscriptions to the LA Daily News. He comes to your door, pitches the unlikely newspaper subs, then when the refusal comes he asks to "use" something of yours inside your home: "Can I use your phone to call my manager?" I'm not sure what the play is from there, but it could very well involve overpowering and theft. Or worse. If you see a short, squat, shifty Hispanic dude in a dark hoodie skipping a lot of doors in his door-to-door "sales" technique, call LAPD Northeast Division at (213) 485-2563.