Hello my name is Dawn, I worked for a magazine crew from 1990 to 1992.

First and foremost, I am very sorrowful for the pain and anguish all the families have suffered, who lost a loved one or knew someone who was injured while working for a Magazine Crew.  I am sure that you are feeling cheated and you miss your family member /child. No matter how and where you lose a person you love, the memories haunt us.

I have a story that will rock your world:

For the RECORD I was never mistreated by anyone on my CREW!

For the sake of protecting the innocent, I have changed names in my story.

The year was 1990 I was just 17 and left home by choice. My mother had given my sister permission to drive me 6 hours to a small city named REDLANDS just outside of San Bernardino, Ca.  A friend of mine had given me permission to stay at his home or a little while, he was a fireman and worked 2 weeks at a time so I  only seen him briefly before my adventure with the MAG CREW begun.

After only a few days in my new city, I went out job searching. At age 17, I had a drivers licence and I had my Social Security Card and at that age fearless. Taking on any tasks big or small I would have had no trouble.  Only problem was no business would hire me without permission from my parent, because they thought I may be a run away or something.  Well about the 4th day in this City, I was riding my friends bicycle going from business to business looking for work. I was approached out side the mall, by a handsome fella about 22 years young, he stated his name was Michael.  Oh what a doll baby he was, sweet, good looking and easy to speak with. He pitched me to buy magazines and of course I was broke and so no way could afford them. We got to talking and he then informed me what the Crew did, he then introduced me to his crew members Robert and Josh  and asked if I would want to join them.  I liked them all, especially took a shine to Josh. Yummy.. Josh was a MAN with a body that would make most woman quiver. Josh was in top shape, he worked out constantly.

After meeting the crew members they offered me a job, how could I say no to that? What did I have to lose?  And so when the Car Handler (Andrew) appeared with the station wagon, the guys then put my bicycle in the back of the car and took me to where I was staying. I dropped off the bike got my things, wrote a thank you note, then split with the guys. They took me to the hotel where they stayed to meet their Crew Owners; Lisa and George.

I met LISA and her boyfriend George. Lisa a tiny little Chinese lady and George was a big heavy black man. They both were in their forty's, not old by long shot.  Very nice people, Lisa was the best, I adored her!    Any how I took an instant shine to both of these people. They interviewed me, asked me my age and when they learned I had 4 months before my 18th birthday Lisa had me phone my mother. Lisa first made certain I was not a run away and then she asked my mother for written permission for me to go with. After they faxed each other the documents, I was officially hired!

At the time I was the only girl on crew and Lisa and George refused to allow me to sleep in the same room with the guys. I had to get a room of my own.  Lisa paid for it, but she did let me know that I would pay her back by becoming the very best magazine sales person on her crew.

 Our next destination was  Phoenix, Arizona  a desired location during February for sales crews. I was trained by Josh and fell head over heels for him.  We dated briefly, but I knew he had a girl waiting for him in Texas and we were NOT having sex, just allot of sharing life and kisses.

My sales were decent especially for a beginner, don't get me wrong, I had bad selling weeks just like anyone else. I was shocked when my manager told me to pack my stuff and told me that I would be leaving in the morning. I did not want to leave the crew. What they meant was the Crew was going to leave the city and travel to a new location, I was so happy to hear that they were gonna keep me, despite I had a bad sales week. We eventually made our way to Houston, TX where I said my tearful good byes to Josh.

Some where between Texas and Nashville TN, I met Chris. A short lived romance. I barely even remember him. I can only recall that he was a manager for another crew and he had money to splurge. He rented a Limo for us and 2 others and we drove around and drank. I got smashed that night, I was sick.  I really don't recall us breaking up, we drifted apart because his group went another direction. Actually, it is my belief that he was asked to step out of the picture most likely by my managers. After meeting Chris, my sales slumped big time.

Eventually other young ladies were hired. I was happy for this finally I had room mates and my cost of living reduced. At the same time I hated sharing my room with anyone cause that meant sharing my shower, bathroom and you know how girls get. Our crew eventually had 4 girls and 7 guys. Small in size but the best in the business.. so we thought.

I was teamed up with the lead performer on the Horsies team, Joe was his name. Looked a little like Rod Stewart and played the rock part well. By now I was 18 years old. My managers allowed me to date Joe so as long as my sales continued to do well.  That relationship was ok,it was on and off again.  He was not my dream boat.

Time stood still when I met the boy of my dreams, Chuck. Oh my gosh.. we were so in love. Chuck was working for the Horsies, and that was fine because my team and his team traveled together always. He was the sweetest boy I ever met, kind considerate, thoughtful and always brought me gifts.

We were the best of friends.

I was never mistreated by my team managers or team mates and never did our crew members do anything illegal other than smoke a little weed and underage drinking . All that I do know is that we didn't get involved with the hard core crap. Maybe it was because we had no money for it or just our crew had no desire for anything more. We once dropped ACID in Vegas... OMG...that was a real trip.that was the one and only time we did that. It was so much fun....we snuck into a David Copperfield performance.. and if you think he is amazing when you are sober....imagine when your hallucinating!

I had a great deal of adventures, got to go to many places and met more people than I can recall. Most great, some not great and never did make a great deal of money. Made some amazing friends and had some of the most fun ever in my life.  The crew for 2 years of my life was my life!   Memories will never be forgotten!

We returned to Virginia, the last time  we were here my managers took me out to a fine dinner and proudly gave me my Gold Sales Ring. Only those sales people who make 100 + sales in a week are guaranteed a ring. and for every 100 sold in week there after you got a diamond. My managers had turned me into a money making machine and they were proud!

The day came that I knocked on the wrong door..... it was a blistering hot day in Fairfax VA. My car handler spotted some sweet door knockers dream and dropped me off in this amazing town house development.  If you are in door to door sales, this type of territory is a favorite because you don't need to walk as far to get the the next door.

The first set of doors I knocked on made a purchase from me! My spirit was soaring and I knew that if the day continued to play out like this I would have a huge week, might even get a diamond my gold sales ring. That would make my management proud, for sure! 

The 5th door I knocked on was a nudist, a really beautiful black woman answered the door in the BUFF! LOL. She turned out to be a sweetie, didn't make a purchase but she did invite me in for a cold glass of water and air conditioning. You might be thinking why would you enter a woman's house who was totally in the nude, well she was very sweet and totally harmless.

about an hour goes by and I am knocking on doors, the heat was fierce and the sweat from my head was pouring down into my face and eyes.  I knocked on the door,and when the door opened it was a rather handsome looking guy, not great looking but not bad looking either. I felt the air conditioner, oohhh it felt so nice. I told him what was doing, selling magazines. He invited me in, ohhh the air felt soo good. I noticed that his home was built different from the ones I was just in. The nude black lady lived in an apartment and she was only a few doors down. What I was in now appeared to be a two story town house.

As I walked through the door and into the entrance, I noticed  a small kitchen on my right, the living room was straight ahead, It had a great big window, the curtains had been drawn back and filled the room with light. on the left side of the living room was a stair well going up to the floor above. I assumed this was the bedrooms. I never went up to find out. We sat on the couch, It was nice ouch, clean and comfy. I kept my pitch strong and he agreed to purchase 5 Magazines!  i never sold five to one person before, I was over the moon, this sale plus the previous sales I made was going to get me that diamond in my sales ring!!!!

The man told me his name and gave me his address. I gave him the total and he said, oh I have to pay now?I said yes sir, we collect today so you wont need to pay tomorrow. Uhmmm... ok he said I will be right back with a check, you do take checks right?? Yes sir,as long as they don't bounce. By the way if you can put half in cash and the rest in a check it would guarantee me the points towards my winning this contest. Oh, ok he said. And up the stairs he went.

This is when I heard a loud voice tell me "GET OUT NOW!" My skin felt strange an the hair on my arms and else where rose.I heard the voice again, "GET OUT NOW" this time it sounded like my mothers voice. I grabbed my packet shoved it between my mid back and my shorts and headed towards the door.   This is when I seen him walking down the stair way. The sun rays from the window glistened something that was in his hand.

He noticed I was headed towards the door and he said" where are you going?" I told him that my mother was looking for me and I had leave. I walked to the door and wham..he body slammed me against it. Reached above my head and locked it at the top. The man had a sliding lock at the top of his door!  Had he done this before to another girl? Was that the voice and presents I felt a moment ago???

I was now on the floor! He was on top straddling my body as he was tearing off my top and just then I knew that if he kept control I was going to die in that house! Suddenly I became calm and began talking to him soothing him an letting him believe that I wanted him just as bad as he wanted me. He allowed me to get on top of him and undress him.  Then out of nowhere I got the courage and the strength to stand up and Kick him as hard as possible in the shin and his balls and once in the knee cap.  For all I knew, his body had blocked the only way out.  I was lead into what I thought was a closet, it turned out it to be an entrance to a first floor with a small back yard. I made my way down stairs, and I heard him calling out at me, you BITCH, you FUCKING Cunt,  Your GONNA DIE!!!!

I managed to get the sliding door to open and ran into the back yard. I was surrounded by a 6ft fence and by a miracle I was able to open it. On the other side of the gate was a FIELD! a massive undeveloped FIELD! OH My gosh...My heart was pounding and the seconds seemed  to be minuets and I was more terrified than ever in my life.  I was afraid to go right or left because he could be waiting for me at the entrance of either opening, if their was an opening to the Town Houses/ Apartments. Had I gone forward into the field he would come after me and no one would ever be the wiser.

I went right and followed the fence line to the opening. It seemed like forever but in reality it was only 4 townhouses down. I then found my way into the development and stood in a parking spot, and it just so happened to be the parking spot of the woman who were just pulling in!

Well it didn't take them long to realize that I was in shock and my clothing was torn beyond repair. Something bad happened to me, for sure.

They invited me in to their place called the police and the daughter brought me to her bathroom upstairs and offered me clothing. I asked for the shirt because I had shorts on....she told me to look down at my shorts. Yes, I was still wearing them but they were now covered in menstrual blood and urine!   Evidently I had began my period and pissed all over myself and didn't have a clue that I did.

Police arrived, put me in the back of the cop car while he and another police officer rounded up the suspect. The man denied ever meeting me, but the evidence was in his home, the police found my receipt packet that I had written up his order in.

Then my car handler (JONES) pulls up and he gets out of his car and walks up to me and starts cussing me out and saying I knew I shouldn't have placed you here, I knew you were gonna get in trouble here. What did you do???  I was so pissed! I said are you kidding me????????? I was almost raped and possibly murdered by this insane person.

I got to the police department filed my report and the police officer showed a great deal of concern about me not appearing for the court case. He stated that he has ran into cases like this and because young people who are traveling sales people the chances are great that I wouldn't be able to attend the hearing and that meant this PSYCHO gets to WALK!

well, I made a promise that I would show, that this person is a lunatic and who knows who else he has hurt or will hurt. That was a promise that I did not keep. Not because I did not want to, it was the lack of money and resources. Virgina Fair Fax police did not have a place to put me up during the trial and I didn't have the money to pay for it on my own.

I feel remorse every time I recall this event. I allowed a creep to go back on the streets all because I did not have a way to pay for a hotel room, food and travel to and from the court house.  Do you ever wonder how many other people encountered the same or similar and feel the same way I do?

After this experience, I really had a difficult time going door to door. I panicked every time. My management learned that my Boyfriend and I had been planning to leave the Mag Crew and start a life together. They separated us by taking the crews to different locations.  With in a month, I had it with the Crew. I did not feel safe doing my job and they separated me from the only person I cared about.

We were in Indianapolis, Indiana and I just wept and wept. For the first time in 8 years I phoned my father who lived in Illinois and asked him to come help me. He made plans to pick me up and I told my managers that I was leaving for a break and would be back in a month.

They knew I wouldn't be back and my manager George insisted give him my ring to pay back any debts that might come in during my leave of absence. I could earn it back with the sales I make.

My father flew his personal airplane out and picked me up. then took me to his home where I was introduced to a new world of sales- Ariel Photography. 

I later met up with Chuck. He was still selling Mags for a living. As a matter of fact we met up twice since then. We never became lovers again. He was still in the mindset of selling magazines where as I had moved on.

I still think of him!

 it has been 18 years since I had this experience.. I remember it all well. I miss my crew, they were like family to me.

Kind regards,

Dawn