(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Oct. 29, 2003)
Identities can get lost in mail theft
By Leo Knight
A little over a year ago North Vancouver RCMP conducted a search by authority of a search warrant on a rented house, acting on information to take down a methamphetamine dealer.
What they found triggered a bizarre string of events, identified a crime ring and culminated in an offensive sentencing decision two weeks ago by North Vancouver provincial court Judge Judy Gedye.
Along with the meth seized that night, were indicators that the group was involved in mail theft.
But, that was merely a portent of things to come.
The guy charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking was Shaun Richard Skorupa, 20, of North Vancouver.
He was released on bail with the usual ridiculous conditions.
Conditions he was to continually breach until the next time he was arrested a number of weeks later, when the North Vancouver RCMP executed another search warrant on a different house occupied by the same players.
According to a drug squad member, there was a handful of people in the house at the time of the "kick-in" and "all of them were cooked" - flying high on methamphetamine.
One was a 15-year-old girl who, according to statements given, had been buying meth from Skorupa for nine months.
But it wasn't just drugs Mounties found that night.
They found mailbox keys, and literally garbage bags full of mail. They also found a day planner that had more than 200 names and personal profiles of people whose mail they had stolen.
Const. Stephanie Taylor, who had been involved in the original search, then embarked on a lengthy investigation trying to put all the pieces together to understand the big picture.
"From the outset, our main priority was to contact everyone whose identity was compromised," said Taylor.
"From there it took weeks to try and assess the information and understand exactly how, what appeared to be hundreds of frauds, worked," explained the Mountie.
"It would have even taken us longer to understand the process if we hadn't had the experience of others like Skorupa," she said.
According to Taylor, the investigation indicated that mail would be stolen, for example, from an apartment communal mailbox. The mail contained a bank statement and perhaps a Visa statement. The bank statement showed the direct deposit from the company where a person was employed. The suspects then knew people's names, employers and how much money they earned. Critical information to obtain credit in a person's name.
With the Visa statement, they would phone the credit card owner and say they were with the bank's Visa security and they'd noticed some unusual activity on the person's account. They'd like to verify the person had not been the victim of a crime. Of course, the person co-operated.
In the interests of security, they'd like to verify that the person they were talking to was the cardholder. Could you provide your birth date or SIN. Of course, and you give them another critical piece of information to steal your identity.
To make it all "Jake," they recite the last few items off your statement and you confirm the purchases were in fact made by you. Thank you very much.
Those nice folks at Revenue Canada help too.
Every piece of mail they send out has your SIN on it. Excellent, another vital piece of information. With all of the above, they became you.
And the day planner had profiles of 200 people.
Further charges were laid and Skorupa dutifully appeared in court and was dutifully released on bail with more conditions that he continually breached until his next arrest a few weeks later. A little deja vu there.
He was checked by Const. Blair Yorke of the burglary section. He allegedly had CDs he'd checked out of the library in, no surprise here, someone else's name.
He also had, again no surprise, mail for the individual with an address in Vancouver.
The address turned out to be a mailbox rental. Inside, police say were more credit cards freshly issued and a bank statement or two. The mailbox had only been rented for a month, so statements outlining those thousands of dollars worth of purchases in your name were ignored.
Skorupa had numerous cellphones too.
Which, needless to say were also subscribed to in someone else's name.
That way, if a bank called for verification, he'd refer them to another number which he would then answer in the reference's name and verification was given.
Like a latter day Fagin, he'd get the teens in his group to steal mail for him and pay them off with methamphetamine.
He appeared in court yet again on the new charges. Surely he won't get bail again thought the police.
Well, not so. You see he promised he'd get treatment for his meth use and would stop his wicked ways. Judge Gedye, who must surely be the most naive judge on the face of God's green Earth, believed him and released him, yet again on bail.
Two weeks ago Skorupa appeared in front of Gedye and pleaded guilty to possession for the purposes of trafficking in methamphetamine, two charges of possession of stolen property and three breaches of court orders.
The prosecuting Crown lawyer in accepting the negotiated plea arrangement dropped all the remaining charges and agreed to a conditional sentence of one year.
Gedye, after hearing the information, decided the conditional sentence was too severe and gave Skorupa probation.
And with that, justice was done. Next case.
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