Local gay resident Richard John Zecca was sentenced Jan. 13 at the San Diego County courthouse for breaking into mailboxes at The Postal Place at 1010 University Ave.

According to Ken Sergi, one of Zecca’s victims, anywhere from eight to 20 people had mail stolen by Zecca — some may have been victims but not connected their losses to this case. Deputy District Attorney Greg Kimmel confirmed that the 19 possible victims were affected.

Most of the theft happened over a several-month period last summer, though the dates vary among the victims who were interviewed by the police, with one estimate that the thefts had occurred over a two-year period. Victims had bank checks, credit cards, blank checks and ATM cards stolen from their mailboxes. One woman had her disability checks stolen, forged and cashed. Because a lot of businesses have boxes there, Zecca was also stealing payments people were making to those businesses, such as collections agencies.

Zecca, who had his own mailbox at The Postal Place, was able to reach around the back of his box and access other boxes, pulling people’s mail out. He also discovered that his key could open other boxes, one witness testified.

“In my particular case, he had broken into the mailbox,” Sergi said. “He forged credit card checks and cashed them against my account. He also activated credit cards in my name with my identity — he had gotten enough information, either through the mail he was stealing or connecting it through research. He charged everything from clothes and cash advances to alcohol and pornography. He also used my ATM card when the bank sent me a new ATM card and started hacking away at my checking account. He at one point cashed a $4,700 check against one of my accounts. The total losses for me were almost $11,000.”

While Sergi was trying to use his ATM card at Whole Foods, he discovered that his checking account had been emptied. When he looked into the matter further and found extensive damage to his credit card accounts, he initiated a process of investigation with the police that led to links with other victims who had had similar experiences.

“When this continued and seemed to be more than somebody just getting a hold of my credit cards, when I started having checks cashed and so forth, I went through the normal reporting processes with the credit reporting agency and the police department,” Sergi said. “But it continued and seemed like there was some elusive predator out there slowly trying to hack away at my financial assets and credit. When the police told me that I needed to consider getting a new social security number, that shocking awareness prompted me to put more energy into finding him, rather than spending the next 20 years trying to get old records connected with a new social security number.”

Sergi started by contacting one of his credit card companies. He recorded the complete transaction histories during that time period from his account history then went to each location to see which businesses had video cameras and in which neighborhoods they were located. Then he contacted the businesses for their security tapes and turned the information over to the police.

“When I provided the research data to the police, [Zecca] was still actively doing the transactions — even the day that I was doing the research,” he said. Police told Sergi that Zecca lived in the Hillcrest area with his partner.

After the police took over the investigation, Sergi notified the United States Postal Inspection Service, which started tracking the offenses from their end. The Postal Place put up a sign notifying customers of the theft and requesting that others notify the management of similar experiences. At that point, more victims started coming forward.

“Ignorance perpetuates vulnerability,” Sergi said. “If you’re not educated, informed or knowledgeable, than you don’t know how to protect yourself. We don’t tend to talk about crime in and around the gay community — we try to perpetuate this positive, healthy, active, normal lifestyle, but it’s also important to be aware that it’s a whole community, and it’s not something that we should hide or not talk about, because if we don’t it tends to make people more vulnerable to theft, harm, and abuse.”

According to the San Diego County Probation Department Report, Zecca was arrested on Oct. 10, 2003 in a San Diego motel room. Arresting officers found a suitcase full of mail in the room and additional pieces of mail under the bed. Zecca’s record contained reports from two of his previous partners of domestic violence, one in 1999 for violating a restraining order, and again in 2002, though no charges were filed. Zecca told the probation officer after his arrest that he had worked in the San Diego area as a hairdresser and aerobics instructor, and had his paralegal license. He also said he was running a telemarketing company called Westgate Supply, which distributed computer software.

Zecca was charged with one count of grand theft of personal property, three counts of second-degree burglary, three counts of forgery of checks, money orders or traveler’s checks, and one count of receiving stolen property.

“The sentencing was certainly an interesting experience, if not an emotional one,” Sergi said. “There were five or six people that actually testified. There was some last minute jockeying by the defense attorney, trying to paint Zecca as an everyday guy who happened to cash a few bad checks.… He tried to paint Zecca as a victim of the police…. This was not just about somebody who happened to cash a couple of checks; he forged checks, he activated credit cards, he stole identity, he stole mail, which is a federal offense, he hacked at checking accounts — this is a man that made conscious, premeditated choices.”

Zecca pled guilty and plea-bargained with the District Attorney. He received six months in jail with five years probation, which was then reduced to three months and probation. Zecca will be released April 27. This was his first offense.

“I’m really angry,” Sergi said of the sentencing. “That’s outrageous. People who commit much more benign crimes are prosecuted, yet this guy — who was charged with eight felony counts — gets three months and probation. He does not have the financial resources to pay back restitution. Criminals generally tend to repeat a system that they have found to work for them, yet he is being freed without remorse or rehabilitation. That is an injustice to the community the criminal justice system serves.”

Though Sergi is upset about the reduction in Zecca’s sentence, he said that the district attorney’s office, the police department and the postal inspection service were helpful and quick to return calls throughout the investigation and the trial. He is now concerned with raising awareness about crimes similar to Zecca’s.

“In the technological era, this kind of vulnerability — when you look statistically at how many people are connected online, with so many records and files automated, all accessible from your desktop computer — people need to be aware of simple steps they can take to protect all that,” Sergi said.

Precautions Sergi recommends taking to protect assets and guard against identity theft include using a shredder for the disposal of all important documents, not storing passwords on the computer, keeping personal information off the internet, periodically checking credit reports and bank statements, and not having internet connections set to sign on automatically. He also recommends regularly deleting cookies, Internet history and temporary files from web browsers, and downloading a free Spy Bot that will track the activity of web links feeding into and out of the computer.

“The gay community makes up a huge percentage of the population that is automated and integrated online, spending a lot of time online with purchases and chat rooms and so forth; we have a lot of connectivity as a demographic,” Sergi said. “We have a greater vulnerability to this kind of theft.”