SACRAMENTO (KTXL) — Foothill High School parents were on edge after rumors of a limousine being spotted near the campus, with a person inside passing out flyers that offered work to girls, spread on social media.
It started as a social media post. A father was concerned about a mysterious limo at the high school. Then rumors spread, some of which the Twin Rivers School District Police Department now says are just not true.
“When you’re passing out a flyer, the first thing that goes to their head — sex trafficking,” said Jermaine Carter. “That’s the first thing that goes to their head and it’s not even like that.”
Carter tells KTXL the mysterious limo is his.
“I’m 100 percent legit,” Carter said. “I’ve been working hard, day one to be legit, you know?”
Carter runs Carter’s Legacy LLC, a business he says relies on teens to sell chocolate bars to the public.
“They get a parent consent form, they sign it and everything and we take them out to work,” Carter said.
Those teens and Carter then get paid on commission. Carter says he’s run a similar business in Southern California, which he says helps teens stay out of gangs and keeps them off drugs.
“We’re trying to keep these kids busy, keep them out of trouble, do positive things,” Carter told KTXL. “Let them know that life is not hard, you know?”
Carter admits his employees were at Foothill High School on Thursday and likely part of the incident that spawned the social media post.
“Everybody is skeptical but you don’t know the facts until you actually see it in real life,” Carter said.
According to state documents, Carter’s Legacy has an LLC out of Nevada but is licensed in California.
Carter says recruiting with flyers is not ideal for his business but sometimes has to be done.
“I really don’t like recruiting at schools but I only do that when I have no crew,” Carter said. “So when I’m trying to build a crew I have to go to the schools and pass out flyers, most definitely.”
KTXL did speak with the father who originally posted about the limo. He says he just hopes other parents will have a conversation with their teens about talking to strangers.