DiMassa Family of Summerkids Camp Tied to Fraudulent Lifeguard Certification
UPDATED: AUGUST 26, 2020 10:53PM
Meow Meow Foundation was established after Roxie Forbes, the 6-year-old child of foundation principals Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas, drowned at the recreational child care facility known as Summerkids located in Altadena, CA. Summerkids representatives have since pressured the foundation to remove content about the circumstances of the drowning from this website. Foundation constituents demand the truth, not solely about Summerkids, but also about the state of camp safety and drowning prevention in California. Sadly, the vast majority of California’s recreational child care facilities/camps operate without critical oversight. As a result of this colossal gap, children continue to suffer considerable injuries, sexual abuse, infections from COVID-19 and even death. Facing a range of lawsuits from the California Attorney General and other parties, Summerkids is a prime example of why the state and the nation must take further action to protect vulnerable children.
PASADENA, Calif. — According to multiple employee statements, the Altadena recreational child care facility known as Summerkids apparently executed a longtime scheme linked to the 6-year-old girl’s death last June.
Summerkids owners Cara, Joe, Maria and Giancarlo DiMassa hired an independent lifeguard trainer to certify counselors. Cara DiMassa and Cervantes facilitated fraudulent certifications for Summerkids counselors for Lifeguard, Water Safety Instructor (WSI), CPR, First Aid and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) without required training or any testing.
Cervantes also fraudulently certified himself as a lifeguard instructor and lifeguard using the Summerkids address.
According to multiple employee statements and documents, the DiMassas’ apparently paid a fraction of recommended program fees. Lifeguard certification at the most popular certification organization costs as much as $385 and WSI certification costs $335. Cervantes said that the DiMassas paid fees less than required — apparently only $80 per person. In exchange, he had access to the certification company database and the issuance of bogus certifications.
Cara DiMassa said in a media statement after the drowning and in subsequent statements, “4 certified lifeguards were at the pool.” DiMassa did not reveal to the media and the authorities that those same counselors never received requisite training or any testing. DiMassa also failed to reveal that she instructed Cervantes to ignore such requirements.
The resulting drowning occurred on Friday, June 28, 2019. The Los Angeles County Health Department only found out about Roxie’s death through multiple broadcast news reports. According to a series of county documents, health inspectors subsequently shut down the pool for nine violations.
DiMassa sent a series of emailed letters to parents in which she never disclosed these violations. She signed a government affidavit in which she said there was no vomit in the pool. This contradicts her own counselor’s statements. DiMassa also abruptly changed her pool occupancy sign from 75 to 60 in the wake of the drowning.
The scope of the scheme seemingly involves far more counselors than those at the pool when Roxie drowned. As many as 100 bogus certifications and dozens of DiMassa employees are apparently involved. Joe DiMassa also requested and received an illegitimate WSI certification from Cervantes, according to documents.
Former Assistant Director Jaimi Harrison retired from Summerkids after Roxie drowned. She worked at Summerkids for a decade. She said she was re-certified in CPR, AED and first aid “the first day of camp” but did not clarify if Cervantes handled the certification.
Harrison said she did “a lot of medical…when we had medical situations, I’ve ridden to hospitals…” She also said, “In a situation [drowning] like this, I am fully trained and I responded.” It is unclear how fully trained in drowning rescues Harrison is. She said, “I assessed the situation while I was doing CPR [on Roxie] and the counselors were doing what we trained them to do. I am incredibly proud of how they handled themselves.”
It is unclear why Harrison was assessing the scene while administering CPR and why she was administering CPR instead of the trained counselors of which she said she was “incredibly proud.” It also currently remains unclear how much Harrison knows about the bogus certification scheme.
Harrison cited a number of improper CPR techniques, which cannot be further addressed until more information becomes available.
Harrison did not ride with Roxie to the hospital.
Cara DiMassa also did not ride to the hospital with Roxie—nobody did. DiMassa said she remained in her office as Roxie lay dead at the pool. However, DiMassa and her parents Joe and Maria did show up at the hospital after Roxie arrived. DiMassa entered the trauma room without permission and was instructed to leave.
DiMassa continues to refer to a multitude of counselors who, according to her, are appropriately certified lifeguards and water safety instructors. However, she has changed related copy on her website multiple times. This is an older version. Note the copy under Lifeguards and Ratios. According to DiMassa, 27 counselors are certified lifeguards and 9 are certified water safety instructors. Based on statements from multiple Summerkids employees and publicly available certification documents fraudulently arranged by Cervantes, DiMassa is lying.
Here is current Summerkids website copy that addresses certifications and policies. Note the changes under the Lifeguards heading.
One of these counselor’s is Roxie’s “buddy counselor” Hank Rainey of South Pasadena. Rainey was in the pool at the time of the drowning. Cervantes and Summerkids afforded Rainey bogus lifeguard/CPR/AED/first aid and WSI certifications only one week before Summerkids commenced its 2019 program.
Rainey admitted that he and other counselors neglected Roxie until a counselor approximately 45-feet beyond the pool area screamed at them. None of the four or five counselors at the pool said they noticed Roxie “floating dead man” until the outside counselor screamed.
Rainey also said he flipped Roxie up straight and grabbed her under the arms before he placed her limp body on the pool deck. Not only do Rainey’s actions defy proper rescue procedure, they can induce lethal consequences.
Rainey said his version of CPR included the repeated flipping of a dying Roxie onto her side to “let gravity take over.” Turning a victim to the side might be appropriate but not if Rainey failed to support Roxie’s head or neck or properly clear her mouth. Instead of proper chest compressions, Rainey said he was “pumping.” He said he failed to administer appropriate child rescue breathing. All of these actions have potentially fatal consequences.
Roxie suffered full cardiac arrest at the pool and never again breathed on her own. Doctors pronounced her dead one day later. That same day, Rainey ran about Pasadena having his photo taken while exchanging lighthearted messages with Instagram friends.
Not long after Roxie died, Rainey and his friends urinated on a well-known Black-owned eatery in Silver Lake. Rainey posted the photo on Instagram. He later said he wants to de-fund the police while he actively supports Black Lives Matter. Here is the photo Rainey (far left) posted of himself and three other white friends. This act in California could result in imprisonment.
Rainey also concurrently posted his fake driver’s license (far right middle), and that of his girlfriend (bottom middle) and other friends as a Twitter page masthead. Asked if he knew falsifying government documents could also result in imprisonment, Rainey said “I have never been caught with a fake driver’s license.”
Rainey is the son of well-known Los Angeles Times reporter Jim Rainey who worked with Cara Di Massa, a former Time reporter. Rainey attends USC where his mother Alison Bell Rainey works as a media representative.
Not long after Roxie drowned, Bell Rainey repeatedly said to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives that her son Hank was “also a victim” who “was unfortunately right there and had to save [Roxie].” She said, he was “totally blameless” and “wasn’t the one even watching,” because he was supposed to be “the fun one in the pool.”
Properly trained and tested lifeguards are not supposed to be in the pool during their watch, unless charged with specific rescue or training duties. According to the lifeguard certification manuals, lifeguards promote water safety, prevent accidents and injury while also applying crucial response techniques in the event of a water emergency. Being “the fun one in the pool” is not listed anywhere in guidelines.
Excerpts from Bell Rainey’s conversation are here.
Natalie Del Castillo was another counselor at the pool during the drowning. Del Castillo said she walked away from multiple children six years and under who were in the deep end while Roxie drowned. She also said she held Roxie’s head forward during the failed CPR effort, an improper technique which could impair airflow. Del Castillo helped Rainey repeatedly and inappropriately tip Roxie to her side.
Del Castillo also said that she, Rainey and Faith Porter, another counselor at the pool, went to Summerkids’ main office after the drowning. She said she saw Annika Nelson, daughter of Cara DiMassa and Department of Justice attorney Shawn Nelson, answering phones. Annika was 16 years old at the time answering phones after a fatal drowning while her mother Cara left the grounds with Joe and Maria DiMassa.
Jaimi Harrison was the only full-time staffer left at Summerkids and she too went to the office, according to Rainey. Soon thereafter, Cara DiMassa sent an email to Summerkids parents in which she said, “Please do not plan to pick up your child early…We have kept the day as normal as possible.”
The DiMassas formerly had a website page dedicated to their pool, which was removed after Roxie drowned. The website said, “A lifeguard sits in the lifeguard chair at all times while children are in the pool.” Both Rainey and Del Castillo admitted that Joseph Natalizio, the lifeguard in the chair, got down from the chair while Roxie drowned. Natalizio himself and Faith Porter, another counselor at the pool, also admitted to the same.
The site also said, “Although we do not give lessons to Summerkids campers [ages 5+], our swim counselors work with children who are not water safe to make them water safe.” Neither Rainey nor Del Castillo said that they carried out such pledges.
Cara DiMassa’s brother Giancarlo is an emergency room doctor in Long Beach. According to his former Summerkids website bio, “Giancarlo oversees health and safety, the Summer Challenge, and is a zany addition to campfire. Each summer, he rearranges his ER shifts so that he can be with us on a regular basis.” After Roxie drowned, his bio simply said, “Giancarlo DiMassa is a zany addition to campfire. He is the father of two school-age sons, both of whom are campers!” Giancarlo DiMassa was in Hawaii when Roxie drowned.
According to Rainey and Del Castillo, Giancarlo never, in fact, trained or guided counselors in health and safety measures—including CPR, AED and first aid—before the operating season or after the drowning. Rainey said that he never even met Giancarlo and that former Assistant Camp Director Jaimi Harrison—who quit not long after Roxie drowned—was “the camp nurse.”
This report will continue as revelations continue to emerge.