CAMARILLO : Woman Finds Racist Flyer in Soda Pack

A Camarillo woman became the latest victim of a white supremacist group that has been distributing racist flyers in Ventura and Los Angeles counties when she found one of the notes tucked into a 12-pack of soda, authorities said Monday.

“When I saw the paper I thought I had maybe won a contest,” said Marion Elsey. “But then I opened it up. It made me sick.”

The note, she said, urged violence against minorities and included a phone number for recruiting purposes.

Elsey said she bought the soda at a small market in Camarillo on Sunday and did not notice the note until she was unloading the cans into her refrigerator.

She immediately called the Camarillo sheriff’s station, where deputies told her the note was one of many that have been found in the county since October.

Similar flyers have appeared in other 12-packs of soda, backpacks, Christmas stockings, pantyhose containers and in lockers at Simi Valley High School, police have confirmed.

In Simi Valley, a man was caught distributing the flyers. But authorities said they could not prosecute him because the leaflets are protected by constitutional free speech safeguards.

“I’m trying to teach my children that all people are equal, and then they are exposed to something like this,” Elsey said. “I’m disgusted by the whole thing.”