THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150241
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 132 lines
A two-month crime spree had left residents of Larchmont and Edgewater angry, shaken and suspicious. They called each other and police, who began to patrol the west Norfolk neighborhoods, looking for anyone who might be up to no good.
The neighbors became wary of the people hanging Chanello's Pizza fliers on their front doors. So officers stopped two groups of pizza-flier workers and conducted background checks.
What they discovered startled neighbors: 15 of the 16 they checked had arrest histories, with offenses ranging from littering and cocaine possession to burglary, robbery, sexual battery and attempted murder.
The discovery touched off a battle fought with letters and phone calls between Larchmont/Edgewater residents and Chanello's. As a result, the pizza company pulled the 15 workers with arrest records out of the neighborhoods and, according to a company official, has changed its policy of recruiting people to deliver fliers. The company now requires criminal background checks.
``We had just gone through an outbreak of crime,'' said Mike O'Hearn, president of the Larchmont/Edgewater Civic League. ``We're not saying (the employees) are doing it. But don't you think it's a little unreasonable to put people like that in our neighborhood?''
Police said none of the workers was charged in connection with the crime wave that plagued the neighborhood in December and January, but residents were right to sound the alarm.
By the end of this week, it seemed the residents had won their fight. But, O'Hearn said, other neighborhoods need to know what transpired in their quiet, tree-lined community.
The fliers in question are the elongated printed ads that show up on doorknobs while residents are at work or school. The fliers, among Chanello's primary means of advertising, are distributed to homes throughout Hampton Roads.
Chip Shubert, a senior manager at Chanello's, said it was one of the first times the company has had this type of complaint.
``The people in Larchmont have a legitimate concern,'' Shubert said.
Many Larchmont residents were suspicious of the people roaming from yard to yard. One of their main concerns was that the workers did not wear anything to indicate who they worked for.
In early February, police in unmarked cars conducted the first series of interviews with the workers. Seven out of eight workers had arrest histories, police records indicated. The charges included grand larceny, auto theft and arson. One worker had a record of arrests for six larcenies, burglary, robbery and attempted murder. Police could not provide information about conviction records.
The second series of police interviews came last Sunday. All eight workers had arrest records, with charges including abduction, attempted rape, auto theft, residential burglary and sexual battery. On that day, police discovered one worker in a resident's back yard. He told police he was petting a dog.
Shubert said he was surprised when he learned of the arrest records.
The workers, he said, are recruited from the Salvation Army and the Union Mission in downtown Norfolk and taken by vans to neighborhoods throughout Hampton Roads.
``Our emphasis was to give them an opportunity,'' he said. ``What we've tried to do is work with the Salvation Army and Union Mission to help out the homeless and give them the opportunity to do some work.''
Shubert said all the workers have identification and are constantly supervised. They are paid more than minimum wage, he said, though he would not say how much.
The 15 workers with arrest records will no longer be used, he said, but the company will continue to provide jobs for the homeless.
``The ones we had trouble with we've completely eliminated,'' Shubert said. ``We've tightened up our screening procedures'' by requiring the background checks by police.
Chanello's wants to make sure it sends out workers ``who aren't any kind of risk,'' Shubert said.
Shubert also emphasized that none of the workers was involved in Larchmont and Edgewater's recent crime wave. Police said 28 crimes were reported in December 1996 and 41 in January, including nine burglaries, two robberies and 11 car thefts. That compares with only 14 reported crimes in November 1996. On an average month, police said, about 20 crimes are reported.
Kathy Jublou has lived for nine years in the Larchmont/Edgewater area, home to more than 5,400 people. She is the neighborhood's program coordinator for block security. She said that if the company is going to hire people with criminal backgrounds, they should work inside the pizza shop, not in a neighborhood.
``I don't think it's right to be out there,'' Jublou said. ``I don't know if they have taken the opportunity to case the neighborhood, but I do know that they have a history of doing crimes to the property and to the person.''
In a letter to Chanello's, O'Hearn and Jublou wrote:
``We deem it unacceptable to unleash potential miscreants within the confines and privacy of our cherished neighborhood. We would like to make you aware that your advertising practices are not helping us to preserve the integrity of our environment.''
O'Hearn said he wanted to give Chanello's a chance to work out a solution with a civic league. But at first, the eatery was not cooperating, he said.
``Suddenly we realized we're being stonewalled,'' he said.
Things got murkier when Jublou was told by Chanello's personnel that the company that handles advertisements for them - Penny Power Inc. - was a separate entity and that they have no control over who Penny Power hires.
But after making some calls, Jublou discovered Chanello's and Penny Power are owned by the same company, Pizza Time Inc. Shubert said Penny Power is a subsidiary of Chanello's.
On Thursday, Chanello's verbally agreed to pull the workers out of the Larchmont and Edgewater neighborhoods. O'Hearn said they were waiting for something in writing.
They also want to make sure other neighborhoods know about their experience.
Business is important, O'Hearn said. But for the community, safety is more important.
Jublou suggested conventional advertising in newspaper and on television. Or have other neighbors hang the fliers. She said residents don't want strangers hanging items on their front doors.
``They have the right to do it,'' she said. ``But we as citizens should have the legal right to say we don't want it.''
One proposal is to have student clubs from Maury High School distribute the ads to raise money. Shubert, who called Larchmont ``a real key ingredient'' in Chanello's success, agrees with the idea.
``We're going to try to turn this into a positive thing,'' he said. ``Our real intention is to try and help people.''
The idea to use students went over fairly well Thursday night at the Larchmont/Edgewater Civic League meeting, attended by more than 100 residents. They learned more about block security and of Chanello's promise to keep the workers away from their community.
As the residents talked about the issue, some munched on complimentary food: bags of submarine sandwiches, sodas, and a stack of pizzas, all courtesy of Chanello's. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
CONTROVERSY IN LARCHMONT
BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Mike O'Hearn of Larchmont objected to pizza fliers being distributed
by people with criminal records.
Vp Map
KEYWORDS: CRIME SPREE CHANELLO'S FLIERS