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Identity Theft While on Vacation
SAN FRANCISCO -- Newspapers piled up on a driveway or front lawn are a tell-tale sign for burglars that nobody's home. So, when security-conscious subscribers go on vacation, they stop delivery. However, it turns out, canceling your paper can make you an easy mark, too.

After getting a tip from a viewer, we've been able to uncover details of an organized burglary ring that's been using information from The San Francisco Chronicle to target homes when the owners are out of town. We have proof that the Bay Area's biggest newspaper is not protecting the personal information of some subscribers.

"They came through this door, kicked it in," says Norman Kibbe, a burglary victim.

 

Norman Kibbe couldn't figure out why burglars targeted his home on a quiet Lafayette Street in September, while he vacationed in Lake Tahoe. They stole jewelry worth thousands of dollars and quickly started racking up charges on his credit cards.

"It's disturbing and my wife is still not quite over it and we're concerned and a little bit reluctant to go on vacation again," says Kibbe.

It's some consolation that police have apparently solved the mystery. A week after the break-in, they arrested Grant Whiteman and several accomplices.

We spoke with Whiteman at the West County Jail.
Dan Noyes: "The police tell me that you and your friends had some sheets of paper--"
Grant Whiteman: "I'm done."

Dan Noyes: "That come from The Chronicle newspaper."
Grant Whiteman: "All right, I'm done (takes off mic). I'm done."
Police say Whiteman and his crew went dumpster diving at The Chronicle's distribution center in Concord. Early each morning, drivers come to pick up their papers and change orders that show which customers have placed a vacation hold on their service.
"This is what the change order looks like," says Sandra Hall, an independent newspaper distributor. "There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these."

Independent contractor, Sandra Hall, and her drivers have been delivering The chronicle for 30 years. She says most drivers just throw the vacation lists into a dumpster when they're done.
Dan Noyes: "But on that sheet though, there's some important information, the address&"
Sandra Hall: "Yeah."

Dan Noyes: "...whether they're going to be home or not&"
Sandra Hall: "Right."
Dan Noyes: "&and their home phone number."
Sandra Hall: "I know."
Dan Noyes: "That's some pretty important information."
Sandra Hall: "It is."
Police tell us that's how the burglars found out Norman Kibbe and his wife would be out of town, and detectives have linked at least three home burglaries to Chronicle vacation lists, discarded in the dumpster.
"I believe they should be destroyed or shredded and not thrown in a dumpster for anybody to retrieve," says Lafayette Police Detective Adam Hernandez.
"It disturbs me that The Chronicle is so careless with this stuff," says Kibbe.
Norman Kibbe tells us he tried to warn The Chronicle about the problems at their distribution center.
Norman Kibbe: "I immediately canceled my subscription, and told them why, and then a month later I go back, and the same thing is in the same bin."
Dan Noyes: "So, you went back and checked the bin."
Norman Kibbe: "Yeah."
Dan Noyes: "And you're going through this looking at--"
Norman Kibbe: "Other people's addresses."
We wanted to find out if this is still a problem. Could The Chronicle really have ignored Kibbe's complaints? Could we also find lists of subscribers who are out of town, whose homes could be vulnerable?
We found sheet after sheet, in that same dumpster -- dozens of names, addresses and their vacation dates. We also spotted a worker dumping out the vacation lists.
Then, we contacted some Chronicle customers whose sensitive, personal information we retrieved from the trash.

Chronicle subscriber, Janis Ong, says she's shocked The Chronicle isn't protecting her privacy.
"We give them certain information in good faith, expecting it to be cared for, and I think it's pretty careless, and we're the ones that pay," says Ong.
"It makes me upset that it's that easy to do," says Andrew Spiros, a Chronicle subscriber.
Chronicle executive vice president and editor, Phil Bronstein, didn't return our calls and e-mail requesting an on-camera interview.

However, the paper's marketing director sent a statement blaming the independent contractors, saying "The Chronicle has reviewed its own security procedures and reemphasized to its contractors the necessity for following all required security protocols." The marketing director wouldn't tell us what those protocols are -- whether it's Chronicle policy to discard those vacation lists in a dumpster, where burglars might find them.
Norman Kibbe says the solution is obvious.

Dan Noyes: "What should The Chronicle do?"
Norman Kibbe: "What should they do? They should shred all this stuff. They shouldn't be throwing it out there for anybody to leaf through it."

We checked that same dumpser late Monday, and it looks like The Chronicle is finally shredding its vacation lists.

The Contra Costa district attorney has now charged seven people in connection with the burglary ring. Four of them are scheduled to appear in court tomorrow.
Have a tip on this or another investigation? E-mail the ABC7 I-Team or call 1-888-40-I-TEAM.

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