American "Chicken for sex" meat salesman is charged with assault

June 16, 2005

Ryan Park, a 22 year old door-to-door meat salesman from Waterboro, Maine was arrested yesterday, and charged with assaulting a woman in Stoddard, New Hampshire last month. He is charged with forcibly kissing her after she turned down an offer from him of chicken for sex.

Stoddard Police Lieutenant Roger Turcotte stated that the woman, whom he did not name, told police that Park:
 * persuaded her to let him into her house;
 * brought in several boxes of meat and attempted to sell them to her;
 * said, when told that she did not have the money to spend, "Well that’s all right. I’ll take anything in trade: knives, drug paraphernalia, guns, anything else that you have to offer";
 * tried to sell her a box of chicken;
 * suggested oral sex;
 * put his hands on her hips and tried to kiss her;
 * asked to be shown the rest of the house, including the bedroom; and
 * said "Why don’t you get rid of the kids for a few minutes? This won’t take long. Nobody will know."

Turcotte said that in order to get rid of Park the woman gave him a post-dated cheque (which police later helped the woman to stop payment on) and $40, all of the cash that she had, and that when the woman's husband later returned home, Park tried to sell meat to him. Turcotte also said that Park, when questioned by police was "appropriate and polite", and stated to police that "I hit on a lot of women when I go door-to-door.".

Michael Phillips, owner of Pacific Prime Gourmet Foods, a company for which Park is a contractor and that supplies meat and other products and leases vehicles to door-to-door salesmen, stated that he has never had any complaints about Park, adding that if Park is convicted, the company "would have no choice" but to sever its business relationship with him, but that right now "He hasn’t been found guilty of anything. We will support him until we hear otherwise."

Linda Park, Mr. Park's mother, said in regards to the incident, "That’s not something that I would think that he would do.” She also stated that her son would not have to force himself on someone because "he’s very popular with the women."

Park is scheduled to appear in Keene District Court on June 28, 2005.