Jeanfromfillmore
12-04-2010, 10:52 AM
DA: 7 arrested in $500,000 child care fraud
11:40 PM PST on Friday, December 3, 2010
By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise
The Riverside County district attorney has filed fraud charges against seven people in the theft of more than $500,000 of public funds meant to provide child care for needy families.
Two defendants, including the woman prosecutors called the ringleader, are former employees of the Riverside County office of education who approved and issued checks to child care providers. Prosecutors said they altered documents, making it difficult to detect the fraud.
The charges conclude an investigation that the office of education started 16 months ago.
"This is a major theft of taxpayer dollars," District Attorney Rod Pacheco said at a news conference Friday.
Low-income families, an average of 10 to 12 children a year, were also left on a waiting list for subsidized child care while Stephanie Luna Vega, the suspected leader, took exotic vacations that Pacheco said she could not have afforded on her county salary.
At the news conference, the district attorney posted large photos of Vega with a fresh manicure and large diamond ring holding a drink in a pool and in a bikini on a beach at a resort.
MANY SUSPECTS RELATED
Vega, 38, of Riverside, influenced the other defendants, Pacheco said. Vega was a child care liaison who approved and issued checks for the Riverside County office of education's child care program.
If convicted of all three counts of embezzlement by a public official, she could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. She was arrested Thursday and was in jail Friday in the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where bail was set at $528,000. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Four defendants are her relatives, Pacheco said.
Other defendants include Esmeralda Garcia Martinez, 37, of Riverside, another former child care liaison; Vega's mother, Sylvia Avila, 61, of San Bernardino; Vega's sister-in-law Toni Catherine Luna, 39, of Riverside; and Brenda Acosta, 31, of Lake Elsinore. They were booked on various fraud, theft, embezzlement and forgery charges and released from jail, scheduled to appear in court Jan. 3.
Potential prison terms range from six years and four months for Martinez to seven years and eight months for Acosta.
Vega's father, Alberto Lobato Luna, 61, a long-haul trucker who lives in Riverside; and her stepmother, Camilla Wright Luna, 61, of Riverside; are also charged. The couple is out of state, prosecutors said, but they were contacted and told to surrender when they return to California. Potential prison terms are six years for Alberto Luna and five years for Camilla Luna.
DIVORCE REVEALS SCAM
Pacheco said Vega altered documents such as birth certificates and payroll stubs to steal funds from 2001 until September 2009.
The scheme was discovered by her husband when they were getting divorced, the district attorney said. The husband found a bag in a closet that contained documents with a slight alteration of his name and $3,000 cash, prosecutors said in a news release.
He told relatives, who contacted the county office of education, which asked the county Department of Public Social Services to investigate and later district attorney's investigators.
"If Ms. Vega hadn't gotten divorced and left some incriminating papers behind, they might still be stealing," Pacheco said.
The county uses state and federal funds to pay child care providers for needy families, who may choose licensed day care facilities or in-home care by a relative.
In this case, prosecutors say the defendants created fake child care providers. They also created some fake children, and altered the names of actual children who were no longer part of the program, the release said.
Vega would make one of her relatives the provider for these fake children, prosecutors said. For instance, her father had nine fake children for whom prosecutors said he fraudulently received funds, a total of $314,000.
For Martinez, the other former office of education worker, "this is a crime of opportunity," Pacheco said. She was involved from Sept. 1, 2006, to Nov. 30, 2008, according to the court case filed against her. Pacheco said she and Vega covered for each other whenever one was away from the office, checking e-mail and taking phone calls.
PREVENTION SOUGHT
Pacheco called for more resources for the education office and all public agencies to conduct more audits and site visits. He said the fraud was simple to commit by altering documents.
Riverside County Deputy Superintendent Paul Jessup said the office of education has internal, state and random audits and visits to child care sites. He said the office has learned from this investigation to make the system more difficult to defraud.
"We've instituted more case file rotation," he said. Duties are now more segregated too, Jessup said.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_webchildcare03.248fe94.html
11:40 PM PST on Friday, December 3, 2010
By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise
The Riverside County district attorney has filed fraud charges against seven people in the theft of more than $500,000 of public funds meant to provide child care for needy families.
Two defendants, including the woman prosecutors called the ringleader, are former employees of the Riverside County office of education who approved and issued checks to child care providers. Prosecutors said they altered documents, making it difficult to detect the fraud.
The charges conclude an investigation that the office of education started 16 months ago.
"This is a major theft of taxpayer dollars," District Attorney Rod Pacheco said at a news conference Friday.
Low-income families, an average of 10 to 12 children a year, were also left on a waiting list for subsidized child care while Stephanie Luna Vega, the suspected leader, took exotic vacations that Pacheco said she could not have afforded on her county salary.
At the news conference, the district attorney posted large photos of Vega with a fresh manicure and large diamond ring holding a drink in a pool and in a bikini on a beach at a resort.
MANY SUSPECTS RELATED
Vega, 38, of Riverside, influenced the other defendants, Pacheco said. Vega was a child care liaison who approved and issued checks for the Riverside County office of education's child care program.
If convicted of all three counts of embezzlement by a public official, she could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. She was arrested Thursday and was in jail Friday in the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where bail was set at $528,000. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Four defendants are her relatives, Pacheco said.
Other defendants include Esmeralda Garcia Martinez, 37, of Riverside, another former child care liaison; Vega's mother, Sylvia Avila, 61, of San Bernardino; Vega's sister-in-law Toni Catherine Luna, 39, of Riverside; and Brenda Acosta, 31, of Lake Elsinore. They were booked on various fraud, theft, embezzlement and forgery charges and released from jail, scheduled to appear in court Jan. 3.
Potential prison terms range from six years and four months for Martinez to seven years and eight months for Acosta.
Vega's father, Alberto Lobato Luna, 61, a long-haul trucker who lives in Riverside; and her stepmother, Camilla Wright Luna, 61, of Riverside; are also charged. The couple is out of state, prosecutors said, but they were contacted and told to surrender when they return to California. Potential prison terms are six years for Alberto Luna and five years for Camilla Luna.
DIVORCE REVEALS SCAM
Pacheco said Vega altered documents such as birth certificates and payroll stubs to steal funds from 2001 until September 2009.
The scheme was discovered by her husband when they were getting divorced, the district attorney said. The husband found a bag in a closet that contained documents with a slight alteration of his name and $3,000 cash, prosecutors said in a news release.
He told relatives, who contacted the county office of education, which asked the county Department of Public Social Services to investigate and later district attorney's investigators.
"If Ms. Vega hadn't gotten divorced and left some incriminating papers behind, they might still be stealing," Pacheco said.
The county uses state and federal funds to pay child care providers for needy families, who may choose licensed day care facilities or in-home care by a relative.
In this case, prosecutors say the defendants created fake child care providers. They also created some fake children, and altered the names of actual children who were no longer part of the program, the release said.
Vega would make one of her relatives the provider for these fake children, prosecutors said. For instance, her father had nine fake children for whom prosecutors said he fraudulently received funds, a total of $314,000.
For Martinez, the other former office of education worker, "this is a crime of opportunity," Pacheco said. She was involved from Sept. 1, 2006, to Nov. 30, 2008, according to the court case filed against her. Pacheco said she and Vega covered for each other whenever one was away from the office, checking e-mail and taking phone calls.
PREVENTION SOUGHT
Pacheco called for more resources for the education office and all public agencies to conduct more audits and site visits. He said the fraud was simple to commit by altering documents.
Riverside County Deputy Superintendent Paul Jessup said the office of education has internal, state and random audits and visits to child care sites. He said the office has learned from this investigation to make the system more difficult to defraud.
"We've instituted more case file rotation," he said. Duties are now more segregated too, Jessup said.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_webchildcare03.248fe94.html