Author: Gina Mace, Special to the Beacon Journal
Dateline: BARBERTON
It's not unusual for children to go door-to-door to raise funds for schools in the west Barberton neighborhood that borders Norton.
So when a 10-year-old girl presented pamphlets with pictures of scrumptious sweets for sale to fund her Norton school this month, a 29th Street woman ordered a pumpkin roll and gave the girl $12.
The child dutifully wrote down the woman's name and address, along with her order.
The next day, the woman ? who asked that her name not be used ? received a call from Barberton Police Lt. Brian Jamison.
He had gotten her information from a list of buyers that had been confiscated from the girl's mother. The Barberton woman had been scammed.
She wasn't alone.
Jamison said the girl's mother, Melissa Wagner, 33, of Akron, and Julie L. Joyner, 27, of Douglass Avenue, forced the girl and her twin sister to go door-to-door to collect for fake school fundraisers.
Wagner and Joyner pocketed the cash, police said.
No money was confiscated from the women, Jamison said. The list showed about $300 in sales.
Joyner was arraigned Tuesday in Barberton Municipal Court. She pleaded no contest to charges of theft and obstructing official business.
Judge David Fish found her guilty and ordered Joyner to undergo a presentence investigation. She could receive up to nine months in jail when she appears for sentencing next month.
Wagner pleaded not guilty to two counts of theft and one count of obstructing official business during her arraignment Tuesday. She is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing Wednesday.
Wagner also faces two charges of contributing to the delinquency of a child in Summit County Juvenile Court, and a warrant for theft awaits her in Akron, according to court records.
Wagner's husband, Jason C. Wagner, 33, of Akron, also is charged with obstructing official business. He allegedly lied to police during the investigation.
Jamison said Jason Wagner was not involved in the scam.
Melissa Wagner and Joyner sent the children knocking on doors with old pamphlets while they waited on the sidewalk or in a vehicle, Jamison said. The women made the rounds of neighborhoods in Akron, Barberton, Norton and Wadsworth over the past month.
When anyone tried to pay by check, the girls were instructed to say they could take cash only.
On one Barberton street, the girls claimed to be selling items for Johnson Elementary. Jamison said not only was the school not holding a fundraiser, but the girls are not enrolled there.
Jamison, who interviewed the twin girls, said the children knew what they were doing was wrong.
''Their mom told them it would be OK,'' he said.
As for the 29th Street woman -- who won't be seeing the pumpkin roll she ordered or her $12 anytime soon -- she said she won't buy anything from school-aged canvassers unless she knows them from the neighborhood.
''I thought it was terrible of the parents making their little kids do this,'' she said. ''Kids come around all the time, and we usually buy from them. Then to have an adult do this ? I think it was terrible.''
Copyright (c) 2009 Akron Beacon Journal
