Santa Rosa man claims Sonoma County worker pried into personal files

Government spies and computer hackers threaten your personal and financial privacy. But what do your neighbors know about you that they shouldn’t?

Too much, says a Santa Rosa man who is suing his next-door neighbor of 20 years over information he claims she collected about him in her job as a Sonoma County social worker.

Eugene Alexeev, a disabled car mechanic originally from the Soviet Union, claims Lizbeth De Mejia, a county Human Services Department eligibility worker, shouted details about his lack of employment and reliance on public assistance in a dispute over backyard watering.

When Alexeev reported the apparent breach to county officials, he was told it never happened and that he shouldn’t contact them anymore, he said.

The experience - which Alexeev said harked back to his family’s suffering at the hands of Soviet agents in Cold War-era Ukraine - left him anxious and depressed and afraid to seek much-needed medical help.

“I feel violated. I feel ashamed,” a teary-eyed Alexeev testified Friday in a Santa Rosa courtroom as De Mejia looked on. “I feel absolutely terrible.”

The court case, which opened this week, raises questions about the county’s ability to safeguard information from unscrupulous employees. Jurors will decide if De Mejia acted maliciously and if Alexeev is entitled to damages for what he says was a breach of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The trial comes as digital technology has made private information easier to share. It also comes amid increasing reports of identity and financial theft.

Guerneville lawyer Nancy Palandati, chairwoman of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Sonoma County chapter, said it shows the need for government agencies, financial and medical institutions to protect personal information.

“Without privacy, there is no confidence in the system,” she said.

Alexeev, who became unemployed after a work injury, turned to the county for help paying his medical bills. Thinking his information was secure, he handed over letters from doctors, financial statements and other personal information to obtain benefits, he said.

He didn’t know it at the time, but De Mejia, his Weatherby Avenue neighbor, worked for the county welfare agency, he testified. He said he was shocked during a 2010 argument over wet patio furniture when she shouted “You don’t have a job!”

She went on to say she knew Alexeev and his mother received assistance through the county’s medical services program and had no money, he said.

At first, he said he had no idea how she knew, thinking he was the victim of hackers. He complained to county welfare officials, who investigated and found no unauthorized access. A second county review conducted after an electronic tracking device was placed on his file found De Mejia looked at the records.

Still, Alexeev wasn’t informed about what happened until he contacted the federal Office for Civil Rights and various lawmakers, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

In the interim, he said De Mejia harassed him, sometimes waving her county identification badge at him when they passed on the street.

“Her behavior was quite despicable, actually,” he said.

De Mejia, who maintains she didn’t look at the files until after Alexeev complained, was disciplined with a pay cut but remains a part-time employee. Her lawyer suggested she knew about Alexeev’s unemployment and finances from living beside him for so long.

She took the stand briefly Friday and is expected to continue testimony Tuesday before Judge Elliot Daum. Also expected to testify is Human Services Director Jerry Dunn.

Jurors are expected to decide liability Wednesday and award any damages later in the week.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@ppayne.