[CVCC] FW: Incredible story about Romeo 3W3RR

[Kyle Chavis]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Kutzko" <kx9x at yahoo.com>
To: <dx-list at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 10:06 AM
Subject: [dx-list] Romeo, I Hardly Knew Ye (Long)


> Gather 'round the campfire, boys and girls...
>
> A few months back, I posted a note on the Society of
> Midwest Contesters reflector asking if anybody knew
> the whereabouts of our dear old friend Romeo
> Stepanenko, 3W3RR. As many will recall, Romeo had a
> habit in the late 1980's and early 1990's of popping
> up with his gear from some of the rarest countries in
> the world of ham radio, make tens of thousands of
> contacts, and then getting us armchair DX'ers to flood
> him with requests for QSL cards (which included "green
> stamps") that often came very late or not at all.
> There was also that minor issue of him not being able
> to provide the DXCC administrators with the proper
> documentation from some of his adventures, proving he
> was indeed where he said he was. In the parlance of
> DX'ing, Romeo was the ultimate Slim, a pirate.
>
> I'm a musician, and I figured if ever there was
> somebody that was worthy of a scurvy-dog, sea-shanty
> kind of song, ol' Romeo was that person. There were
> rumors he was a shady character, who showed up at the
> Dayton Hamvention in 1999, years after being expelled
> from DXCC, and then disappeared from the face of the
> Earth. He is the sort that is perfect for song and
> story. I needed factual material for the tune, so I
> started to do my homework. The note to the SMC
> reflector was the beginning of that homework.
>
> I didn't get much response other than a couple of
> notes that said, "Yeah, whatever happened to that
> guy?" So, In July 2005, I posted a note on Eham.com in
> their DX forum, entitled "Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?"
> Again, no info. So, I started searching on Google. I
> found an article online about ham radio in Afghanistan
> that mentioned him in passing, and a site that had
> several of Romeo's QSL's (including WX9X's fake
> P5/R0MEO card he handed out at Dayton one year). I
> printed the articles and stuck them in my notebook I
> keep for writing lyrics, where they have sat for a
> while, collecting dust. I forgot about it and moved on
> to other projects.
>
> On the evening of October 19, 2005, I received a phone
> call from an inspector with the U.S Postal Service
> based in St. Louis. He said he needed to meet with me
> concerning an investigation of "...one of my
> associates." I obviously made myself available at his
> earliest convenience, which was the next day's lunch
> hour.
>
> I ran over to my friend Matt, NM9H's place. Was he
> trading endangered animals over the Internet?
> Circumnavigating customs laws by importing fresh fruit
> from Venezuela? Ripping tags off of mattresses and
> mailing them to Botswana? He assured me he was doing
> nothing of the sort, as he was "...an old man with a
> house full of kids, with neither the time nor energy
> to be surreptitious."
>
> A night of fitful sleep ensued. We jazz and folk
> musicians have a sordid history in America, often
> lumped together with other unsavories like gangsters,
> communists, and bootleggers. Which of my compadres had
> warranted constabulatory intervention, and how did the
> Postal Service get involved? Besides, my youthful
> indiscretions are long over, as I have nothing to be
> discrete about any longer and I'm closer to
> middle-aged than youthful. In short, like my friend
> NM9H, I'm boring and getting old.
>
> The Inspector came to my place today (20 October
> 2005), and after some pleasantries, asked if the name
> Roman Vega meant anything to me; I truthfully answered
> no. He then asked if I was a ham operator, to which I
> said yes. He then asked if the name Romeo Stepanenko
> meant anything to me, and I nodded uncertainly. The
> Inspector then produced a printout of my Romeo inquiry
> on Eham.com. He said he was following up on an
> investigation from the US Department of Justice in San
> Francisco concerning our beloved Romeo, and he wanted
> to know why I was asking about him in a public forum.
>
> I gave him a Reader's Digest version of ham radio,
> DX'ing, and an overview of the DXCC program. I
> explained how Romeo pretended to operate from various
> exceptionally rare places, duped tens of thousands of
> us into sending him SASE's with green stamps included,
> and was then caught and expelled from the DXCC program
> for these fraudulent ham activities. I explained why
> this caused such a scandal to a program that has had
> an exceedingly high level of ethics and scrutiny
> associated with it over the years. He was quite
> interested in people sending dollars along with QSL
> requests. I explained it was customary to help pay for
> the QSL you're going to receive, especially when
> dealing with an operation from a place as rare as
> Myanmar or North Korea.
>
> I then had to explain to him why I'd want to write a
> song about such an unsavory character. As I explained,
> every hobby or pastime has some level of folklore or
> legend attached to it, and Romeo is one of the most
> infamous characters in the history of DX'ing. In
> baseball, people wrote songs about Jackie Robinson and
> Joltin' Joe. Bob Dylan wrote about Emmett Till. Heck,
> Frank Zappa wrote about a wacko dubbed by the press as
> The Illinois Enema Bandit. Numerous ballads have been
> written about pirates, oddballs, do-gooders and
> ne'er-do-wells in all cultures all around the globe.
> Ham Radio DX'ing may be a small culture in the grand
> scheme of things, but it is a culture nonetheless. It
> stands to reason that, just like any other culture,
> the heroes are glorified and the villains are reviled.
> To me, writing a song about Romeo seemed logical and
> fun.
>
> After an hour of questioning by the Inspector (nice
> guy, by the way), he said it was quite obvious I
> wasn't involved in any of Romeo's current shenanigans,
> and proceeded to tell me The Story:
>
> Roman Vega, aka Romeo Stepanenko, was arrested and
> extradited from Cyprus to the United States in March
> of 2004, and has been charged with 40 counts of wire
> fraud and trafficking in stolen credit card numbers.
> He is alleged to have done this in online chat rooms.
> The Inspector I spoke with indicated that he allegedly
> bilked over $3 million out of this scheme. Romeo has
> pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has been held in
> northern California, as he is considered a flight
> risk. His trial is scheduled to begin in San Francisco
> on Monday, November 28.
>
> Here is a link to the US Department Of Justice press
> release:
>
> http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2004_06_04_vega.html
>
> Here is a link to the actual indictment filed in
> Federal Court:
>
> http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/assets/applets/2004_06_04_Vega_ind.pdf
>
> As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of
> the story."
>
> The Inspector never informed me that I was not allowed
> to discuss this, so I'm posting it here for all to
> see. He indicated the case against Romeo looked quite
> good indeed, and that they were following up on all
> leads they had concerning him. I was "lucky" enough to
> have been considered a Person Of Interest; I got to
> see a copy of my Federal subpoena, where I was
> "commanded" to appear in Federal court on November 28
> at 8:30AM. The Inspector indicated this would probably
> not be needed. He did mention that San Francisco is
> quite nice this time of year, though, and it was
> almost a pity I wouldn't get to take the Government up
> on their free "vacation." I gave him one of those
> nervous smiles and waited for him to move on.
>
> He left me his card, said he'd file his report, and
> told me I'd probably never hear from him again. He did
> give me the case number (Northern District Of
> California CR04-0101 CRD), since it's a matter of
> public record. The fact that I was sitting on the edge
> of my seat as he was telling me this, slack-jawed and
> with my eyes as wide as saucers, might have had
> something to do with him giving me the info as well.
>
> How did I get associated with Romeo? I'm just a ham
> operator who had one QSO with him when he was in
> Vietnam (still my only 3W QSO), spent probably
> hundreds of hours listening for him from his other
> far-flung locales, but never worked him anywhere other
> than 3W. I just happened to ask the right question at
> the wrong time.
>
> It certainly is interesting what bites sometimes when
> you go fishing, eh?
>
> I'm finally recording my solo CD now. I'll be sure to
> let everybody know when it's done. I could use a lead
> player, though; maybe I should give WB6ACU a call...
>
> 73,
>
> Sean Kutzko KX9X
> Gillespie, IL>