Another Sentence Handed Down In Child Care Fraud Scheme

The mastermind of a fraud scheme involving seven conspirators, including a Lake Elsinore woman, who drained more than a half-million dollars from a state-run child welfare program, was sentenced Thursday in Riverside to five years in state prison.

Stephanie Luna Vega, 39, of Riverside pleaded guilty a month ago to a half-dozen counts of misappropriation of funds and one count each of conspiracy, grand theft and embezzlement of public funds.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge James T. Warren imposed the sentence called for under a plea deal with the District Attorney's Office.

Vega could have faced 14 years behind bars if convicted of all counts in a jury trial.

The defendant was the last of the conspirators in the fraud scheme that she orchestrated to plead guilty.

Her mother, 61-year-old Sylvia Avila of San Bernardino, also entered
into a plea agreement early last month and was immediately sentenced to 120 days in jail and 36 months probation for grand theft.

Prosecutors filed charges against the pair and five other defendants in
November.

The co-conspirators were Vega's father, Alberto Lobato Luna, 60; his
wife, Camilla Wright Luna, 61; Vega's sister-in-law, Toni Catherine Luna, 40; Esmeralda Garcia Martinez, 37; and Brenda Acosta, 31, of Lake Elsinore.

Alberto Luna pleaded guilty on May 9 to misappropriation of funds, grand theft and conspiracy to commit fraud and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Camilla Luna pleaded guilty on May 17 to grand theft and conspiracy and was sentenced to 120 days in jail and 60 months probation. Toni Luna pleaded guilty around the same time to welfare fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28.

Martinez pleaded guilty on April 25 to misappropriation of funds and was sentenced last month to 270 days in jail and four years probation. Acosta pleaded guilty on April 8 to forgery and was sentenced to three years probation.

Vega was at the center of the scheme, uncovered in 2009, according to the District Attorney's Office.

While she and Martinez were employed at the Riverside County Office of Education, they conspired to falsify records and create fictitious children to obtain money from the CalWorks child care program, prosecutors said.

At least $528,000 was stolen, with a large amount of the taxpayer funds being diverted to the other defendants.

Then-Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco detailed the defendants' scam during a Dec. 3 news briefing, describing how Vega and Martinez used their positions to set up phantom childcare providers and nonexistent children in need of CalWorks' benefits.

Vega's family members were designated as providers and received checks for nothing more than having their names on documents filed with the county, according to Pacheco.

Under the CalWorks program, which is supported through state and federal funds and administered by individual counties, welfare recipients can receive subsidized daycare for their kids.

Because of the defendants' actions, there was less money available for
families who genuinely qualified to receive childcare assistance, cheating them out of the opportunity, Pacheco said, noting that the system has inherent exposure to fraud.

The scheme was brought to authorities' attention after Vega's ex-husband discovered cash and documents while rummaging through a closet at the couple's former home, according to prosecutors.

Alberto Luna received the largest sum of fraudulently obtained funds --
$314,000, according to the D.A.'s office. --City News Service