SANTA PAULA : Man Sent to Jail for Magazine Onslaught

A former Santa Paula physician charged with eight felony counts received a year in county jail and seven years probation after admitting he sent nearly 100,000 magazines to a woman who refused to sell him property, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Reynaldo Fong, 45, was sent to jail after admitting that he sent Camarillo attorney Theresa McConville more than 90,000 unwanted magazines over a 10-year period.

“She declined to sell him real estate and he took that as a personal insult,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon said. “He held a grudge and for some 10 years he began to send her magazines she never subscribed to.”

Fong pleaded guilty to eight counts of false impersonation, signing McConville’s name to a series of subscription offers, Simon said. One of the counts involved a refrigerator that Fong admitted sending to the woman, the prosecutor said.

“He’s an obsessive personality who believes he’s being persecuted,” Simon said.

The prosecutor said the victim was forced to spend more than $50,000 in postage and labor after she had to hire someone to deal with the subscriptions.

“He’s got some serious mental problems,” Simon said of Fong, who formerly practiced medicine in both Ventura County and Monterey County.

Fong is an illegal immigrant, whose visa ran out in 1980, Simon said. If he gets out of jail early, he could be deported. A May 2 hearing is scheduled to determine the restitution that Fong must make to his victim, Simon said.