3W3RR Jail-pedition continues

Hi Gang,

This post is about a guy some of you love to hate - Romeo Vega (Roman Stepanenko), 3W3RR.

For the rest of us, who keep track of his whereabouts, he has been moved to Moshannon Valley Correctional Center, Pensylvannia, (a.k.a. MVCC), in May of this year

Prior to that, he undertook a 2 months trip around the country, with the map of his travels posted below. Of course, as an inmate, he didn't see much.



There are some interesting stories published about his roadtrip, (alas in Russian) , but with Google Translate they are quite fascinating.

Almost 900 people took him up on his Jail QSL card offer to-date, which he continues to mail out until his terms ends. He is due to be released in April 2020

See the card sample below. Info on QSLing can be found here



I'm not trying to glorify him by any means, but as someone who almost paid his debts to society in 18 years, he deserves not to be forgotten. An occasional bit of sympathy also helps.

73, Ed/NT2X

 

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

Of all the strange things I've seen on QRZ, this has to be one of the strangest!

 

Would have assumed that a forum with the title "Contests, DXpeditions and Special Events" referred to communications via ham radio apparently that is not the case.

 

He could have done a County Hunters DXpedition!

 

Was he ever convicted of anything?

 

As a worldwide credit card scammer convicted in multiple countries, I don't see why he is deserving of any sympathy.

https://dxnews.com/roman-stepanenko_3w3rr_ub5jrr/

quote:
Vega’s case has been going on for quite some time. The Ukrainian credit card fraudster was arrested, prosecuted, and convicted in Cyprus in 2003. Then, he was brought to the United States in 2004 to face federal charges in California, to which he pleaded guilty. By 2007, Vega faced fresh charges in New York. By early 2009, Vega pleaded guilty to those charges, but then he attempted to withdraw his plea in 2011. Various motions were filed, but by May 2012, the judge denied his request and his plea stood.

The long delay between his initial arrest and final sentencing could suggest a plea bargain of some kind between Vega and American authorities. In a 20-page sentencing recommendation letter (PDF) to the judge, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York recommended that Vega be given “at least 20 years” in prison.

“Today’s sentence is a significant milestone in our ongoing effort to aggressively target and dismantle global cybercrime organizations that operate from every corner of the world,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman in a statement. “Vega helped create one of the largest and most sophisticated credit card fraud sites in the cybercrime underworld—a distinction that has earned him the substantial sentence he received today.”
Unquote.

 

Don't know if he is some sort of folk hero based on his alleged crimes and convictions it would appear he is as much a common criminal as the other occupants of whatever institution he happens to land in.

 

I don't see the original poster as glorifying him and I do think this is probably the place to put this info because it may not be an official special event station, but it is certainly unique. As a LEO, I am certainly one who believes that the intention of prison should be restorative and not just punitive so he is serving his time. IMHO

 

Is this the guy who allegedly did DXpeditions, but never actually set foot in some cases, working DX from the boat?

 

Google search shows there was more than one person that applies to.

 

No!!! That was Don Miller, eons before Romeo attempted to claim a North Korean dxpedition that was not in NK.

https://www.amateurradio.com/sailing-into-a-dx-sunset/

 

A big question for me is why is he using a Vietnam call sign rather than his Ukrainian issued call sign.

The VN call is no longer valid.

 

He's not transmitting anything so what law would he be breaking? My car license plate looks very similar to a foreign callsign, would i be breaking a law if i used it on a postcard?
Also, the call might not be registered now but what about 18 years ago when he could have been using it?

 

After reading through his website I edited my post to reflect the correction (as I was also interested in how he managed to work a radio from prison).