An Open Letter To The Ham Radio Community
I would like to start by saying thank you to all the wonderful members of the ham community who have stood by me over the years. Whether you attempted to defend me online from the false accusations and smear campaign, sent a supportive e-mail, came by the house, or just kept in touch as if nothing had happened your willingness to give me the benefit of the doubt is very much appreciated. A few years ago I thought I was done with ham radio for good and was rather bitter towards the community as a whole. It has become clear that those who attacked me or assumed the worst about me are a small but loud minority of the ham community.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about here is a brief summary of what happened: During the summer of 2006 I bought and sold a number of pieces of ham radio gear online, something I had been doing for years. A member of the ham community in Georgia who has computer skills was able to hijack the mail server I was using at the time. With the aid of an accomplice in Wisconsin he effectively duplicated, triplicated, or even quadruplicated sales for me or, in some cases, created ads of his own in my name. Since he had control of my mail server I only saw what he wanted me to see and his buddy made sure to clean out my home mailbox when I wasn't watching. My consulting work at the time required me to travel a great deal so this wasn't difficult to do. I did eventually see this happen and I did report the theft of my mail to the local sheriff's department with a description of the vehicle. In effect my identity was stolen and used to defraud members of the ham community.
I was eventually charged with a felony as the local sheriff didn't do an adequate investigation of what was going on. In late 2007 my attorney and I entered into an agreement with the District Attorney in which he agreed to dismiss the charges. The reports that I plead guilty or was convicted of a crime that have been deliberately and maliciously circulated are false. The court proceedings including the agreement with the D.A. are a matter of public record.
My attorney and I do know who is responsible for all of this. We know their motives. A number of hams do as well. My attorney passed all the evidence collected on my behalf to a federal prosecutor. Sadly there has been no activity to my knowledge and the statute of limitations makes any criminal proceedings unlikely or impossible. I am still not sharing any of the information or evidence because I do not want to jeopardize any legal proceedings that I still may pursue in civil court for ongoing libel and defamation of character.
I have asked friends in the ham community who know the details not to take any action. They have good reason to want the details released: what happened to me could happen to any of you. There is a right way and a wrong way to seek justice. I cannot and will not condone to sort of vigilantism that was used against me. Vigilante justice is never just. One of the fundamental principles of our legal system is "innocent until proven guilty," a principle too many hams were happy to ignore, choosing instead to participate in a witch hunt.
I have not made any decision regarding whether or not to become active in ham radio again. There are friends who have repeatedly encouraged me to get back on the air, even if just to talk to them. I still believe I would face a great deal of harassment if I did so. Having said that, I am seriously reconsidering a return to the airwaves in 2012.
I originally wrote this to break my silence and let those who haven't already judged me read my side of the story. I've updated it because I still have friends in the ham community and I'm not ready to turn my back on them.
Caitlyn Martin, K9NI
original version written June 17, 2008
updated February 1, 2012
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