Eight charged with soliciting without permit

In just a short period of time Monday evening, Aiken Public Safety received five complaints from residents bothered by a group of men and women going door-to-door attempting to sell residents cleaning products and, at times, becoming overly aggressive and refusing to leave.

Police arrested six men and two women for soliciting without a permit.

The City of Aiken requires door-to-door salespersons to have a business license and a peddler's permit before making sales.

The business license can be applied for at City Hall and the permit at Aiken Public Safety.

Aiken officers said they warned the group's organizer, Randy A. Sims, 20, multiple times that selling door-to-door without the proper permits and licensing is illegal and even explained to him what he needed to do.

But Public Safety Sgt. Aaron Dowdy said Sims failed to apply for the proper paperwork and still continued with the door-to-door sales.

"He was fully aware of the law and ignored it," Dowdy said.

One of the women working in the group was issued a citation last week, police said.

Shawntaria E. Jones, 33, was also charged Monday with Sims and others accused of making sales.

Martha K. Russell, 25, Michael Williams, 19, Lawasa Wilder, 37, Raymond Ross, 30, Hilton Washington, 20, and Odell Hogan, 23, were also jailed for solicitation without a permit.

Some of the residents who complained told police one of the women had been "very assertive," adding that she wouldn't leave, despite having been asked repeatedly to do so.

The group had been traveling in a gray van and then each person was going door-to-door, police said.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.