County Workers Accused Of Setting Up Fake Child Care To Get Money Meant For Poor

Seven people faced charges on Friday connected to schemes that fraudulently took funds from a county child care program intended for needy families.

District Attorney Rod Pacheco announced two former child care liaisons that worked for the county had been charged, as well as five others who were family members.

Stephanie Luna Vega, 39, and Esmeralda Garcia Martinez, 37, both of Riverside face the charges as former workers.

Four others charged are related to Vega. They are her mother, Sylvia Avila, 61, of San Bernardino; her father Alberto Lobato Luna, 51, of Riverside; her stepmother Camilla Wright Luna, 51, of Riverside and her sister-in-law Toni Catherine Luna, 41, of Riverside.

Also charged is Brenda Acosta, 30, of Lake Elsinore.

Five of the seven charged in the case were arrested and booked Thursday, according to Pacheco. Alberto Luna works as a long-haul trucker and he and Camilla Wright Luna are out of the state. They have been contacted and told to surrender themselves upon their return to California.

Pacheco said the scheme happened over eight years.

Vega and Martinez had the authority to approve and issue checks for the RCOE child care program. The state and federal funds in this program are to legitimately be dispersed by RCOE to needy families seeking child care and the payments are to go to the child care provider. That can be for in-home care or at a licensed day care facility.

Instead, he said fake child care providers were created as well as some fake children and alterations to the names of actual children who were no longer part of the program.

His office claimed Vega would make one of her family members the provider for these fake children. For example, her father, Alberto Luna, had nine fake children for whom he was fraudulently receiving funds. Alberto Luna received the largest sum of money, more than $314,000.

Martinez diverted legitimate funds to herself while also creating false records. Toni Luna and Brenda Acosta lied about their true income levels on applications in order to receive benefits illegally. In all, Vega facilitated the loss of $527,940, which includes about $62,000 illegally to place her son in a day care and funds diverted to her husband.

It was Vega’s husband who inadvertently discovered the scheme when, during their divorce in 2009, he found a bag in a closet which contained documents that had a slight alteration of his name on them as well as $3,000 cash. He told family members who in turn reported it to RCOE officials. RCOE then asked the county Department of Public Social Services to conduct the investigation. They were later assisted by District Attorney’s investigators.

“We are pleased to offer our expertise and investigative resources to help in this case,” said Susan Loew, director of DPSS. “Anyone who misuses public funds should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Potential prison terms for the seven are: Vega, 14 years; Acosta, seven years, eight months; Toni Luna, seven years; Martinez, six years, four months; Alberto Luna, six years and Camilla Wright Luna, five years.