[SEDXC] Fw: [lsdxa] Incredible story about Romeo 3W3RR

Sat Oct 22 15:23:43 EDT 2005

FYI   for those who remember Romeo.
Dave K4JRB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Floyd Gerald 
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; 
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 8:28 AM
Subject: Fw: [lsdxa] Incredible story about Romeo 3W3RR

For those of us old enough to have some of Romeo's cards in our collection....
Interesting to say the least
73
Floyd

 > 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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.360 / Virus Database: 267.12.4/146 - Release Date: 10/21/2005