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Letter pleading for help stuck inside decoration packaging

Posted at 5:02 PM, Dec 28, 2012
and last updated 2012-12-28 17:02:38-05

VANCOUVER, Wa. (WTVR) - A woman says she found a letter pleading for help, hidden away in Halloween decorations made in China and purchased at a store in Vancouver.

Julie Keith bought the Graveyard Kit last year from a Kmart that's since closed down.

When she decided to use the decorations in October, Keith says she found a page-long letter wedged between two styrofoam gravestones describing the deplorable conditions at a labor camp in China.

The letter says people work for 15 hours a day for very little money and if they don't, they will be tortured. The letter writer asks the reader to forward the information to a human rights organization. 

Keith reached out to the media, who contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency then called Keith to learn more.  Keith also reached out to Amnesty International, but never heard back.

Keith says she'll try to never buy anything made in China.