Monday, January 14, 2013

Since Friday, the Wichita Police Department has received 150 calls from people who have been approached by suspicious people trying to sell Kirby vacuums.

Police believe that in several of those cases, the suspects who posed as salesmen returned to the homes..

"They took a pillow case off the bed and dumped all the jewelry into it, we think," said Sherri Jones.

Last week someone kicked in the Jones' back door stealing small electronics and jewelry in the 10-thousand block of Bristlecon. Police say the same thing is happening all over the city.

One major clue police say each burglary has in common is that Kirby vacuum salesmen have been in the area a couple weeks before.

"They were selling vacuums," said Wichita police Lt. Doug Nolte. "They did not have licenses to do so."

We stopped by both Kirby distributor offices in Wichita. One woman told KAKE News, "Bad people come through every business. Some offices aren't as frugal in doing background checks on their salespeople as we are."

She says she is working with police on the case, but she doesn't believe any of her employees would be involved in a burglary ring.

In the meantime, Reno County Sheriff's detectives say they talked to these same Kirby sales people in their area, but they didn't have any reason at this time to arrest anyone.

Kirby corporate offices sent us a statement.

"Kirby was upset to learn of the individuals in Wichita who have taken advantage of innocent consumers and is working with the Wichita police to assist with the police's investigation."