Family ‘Flabbergasted’ by Graduation Invites

Police are investigating a Costa Mesa man who, they say, mailed more than 2,500 graduation ceremony invitations to wealthy East Coast families on behalf of a Costa Mesa teenager who has never met him, implying they send gifts if they cannot attend.

Police say that Ronald L. Charter, 36, is suspected of spending more than $5,000 for the formal invitations, which invite recipients to join Jennifer Lynn Shapiro at her graduation day ceremony from Newport Harbor High School on June 18, then attend a dinner and celebration for “Jenny” at the Shapiro home.

Investigators traced the invitations on the address to Charter’s mailbox in Newport Beach, said Sgt. John Desmond, who added that police are investigating whether Charter committed fraud and theft through false pretenses.

“We’re fully investigating it and our detectives are looking to make an arrest,” Desmond said. “I don’t know what the percentage is of someone getting a return on this, but it takes a lot of time. It looks like these have been sent to only very upscale people.”

A Costa Mesa 17-year-old named Jennifer A. Shapiro is graduating from the school this month but has never met Charter and knew nothing of the invitations, according to police and the girl’s mother, Kate.

“We’re just totally flabbergasted,” Kate Shapiro said. “We thought it was a joke at first. But by 2 1/2 weeks ago, about six or seven families had called the school wondering who Jenny was.”

Desmond said the invitations imply that those who cannot make the long trip should send a congratulatory token in their stead.

“Send us a gift or attend” is the message, he said.

The invitations were mailed to families outside California, most of them on the East Coast. All of the recipients “appear to be of Jewish descent,” according to court records.

According to search warrant affidavits, police seized more than 50 pieces of mail addressed to Shapiro and sent to Charter’s mailbox since May 29. But, Desmond said, “to date we don’t know of anyone who has actually sent a gift or any money.”

Charter, who owns a Costa Mesa company that makes reptile breeding enclosures, could not be reached for comment at his home or office Friday. According to county records, Charter also has owned an automotive business and a company called Green Card Systems, and has done business under several other fictitious names.

According to court records, Charter established the mailbox May 13 in the name of Jennifer Shapiro and requested that all mail addressed to her be placed in his box.

Some recipients were amused by the invitations.

“We happen to know someone whose name is Shapiro who lives in California,” said Bruce A. Levine, a New York psychologist whose family received an invitation a little over two weeks ago. “For about five minutes, we were thinking, ‘Who is this girl?’ ”

Levine called school officials and then ran a cross-check on the return address. Rather than the Shapiro home, the address belonged to Mailboxes Etc. Levine and others notified school officials, who contacted police.

Levine said he and his wife quickly began to doubt the legitimacy of the invitation: The return envelope had no stamp, a gauche move that seemed out of character; it listed Shapiro’s parents only as “Mr. and Mrs. Shapiro” with no first names; and the Levines’ address was written in a sloppy scrawl.

Investigators searched Charter’s Costa Mesa home May 29 and found boxes with high school graduation announcements and RSVP cards for Jennifer Lynn Shapiro, mailing lists, address labels and an envelope marked “Top Secret” that contained photographs, fictitious business statements and mailing list catalogs, according to affidavits.

When investigators confronted Charter with the allegations last week, he referred them to his attorney, court records show.

“He indicated that he was doing nothing illegal and that he was simply mailing invitations (2500+) out to randomly selected multimillionaire families,” according to court documents. “When asked why, he stated that he wanted to see that these families had fun.”