Credit: Bucks FOP
A contracted sales representative for Levittown-based Calkins Media is accused of threatening a newspaper customer looking to cancel their subscription.
Northampton police said Thursday that a Churchville resident received a call last month about renewing his subscription to Calkins Media’s Bucks County Courier Times newspaper. The resident reportedly said they wished to not renew their subscription due to an editorial cartoon which some have called anti-police.
Advertisements
Later, the resident received several phone calls with “ramblings” about Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, “no justice, no peace and no peace for your family,” police said.
In court papers, police wrote the resident took the comments by the caller as a veiled threat.
The former newspaper subscriber called the company and police about the strange calls.
Advertisements
The sales representative – identified as Derrick Warren, 39, of Yardley – is accused of making the calls.
“Thanks to you, I lost my job over my beliefs of cops being killers. When the cops show up at my house and kill me, my blood will be on your hands,” police allege Warren said during another call left during the course of the investigation.
A spokesperson for Calkins Media said Warren was not an “employee of the Bucks County Courier Times but previously was employed by a contractor that provided subscription sales services to a number of publications, including the Bucks County Courier Times. ”
Advertisements
The editorial cartoon that ran in early December depicted a group of African-American children asking Santa to keep them safe from the police. The response from subscribers and police groups caused a firestorm on social media.
The Bucks County Fraternal Order of Police said last month the cartoon by syndicated cartoonist Chris Britt “promoted mistrust between citizens and police.” The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police also issued a statement condemning the newspaper and wishing them a “bankrupt New Year.”
The Bucks County Courier Times provided two statements following the cartoon and said items on the editorial page “do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our editorial board, rather that of the author or artist.”
Advertisements
“If we had recognized prior to publication that the cartoon would have caused unintended offense, our editors would have selected a different one for Sunday’s newspaper. Editing a newspaper is not easy and we don’t always get it right,” a statement read.
Warren was charged via mail summons with two counts of harassment. No date for a preliminary hearing has been set as of Friday, according to court records.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
