PTA Moms Sentenced For Swindling Other Parents of Millions in Ponzi Scheme

Two Diamond Bar PTA members were sentenced to three years in county jail for their no contest pleas today to conning seven people out of $600,000 in a Ponzi scheme involving a Disneyland milk contract.

A Pomona Superior Court judge also ordered Maricela Barajas, 42, and Juliana Celeste Menefee, 51, to pay a total of $590,000, or nearly $300,000 each, to the victims of their fraud.

Along with co-defendant Eva Perez, 52, the two women claimed to have exclusive rights to sell Alta Dena Dairy products at Disneyland and promised rates of return to investors of up to 100 percent, according to authorities.

They were actively involved in the PTA at Armstrong Elementary School and gained the trust of more than 30 investors during organized school events and social functions, authorities said. At least one of their victims was from North Hollywood.

With individuals investing $2,000 to $100,000, the three took in about $14 million and paid out about $10 million in "profits" to sustain the fraud between June 2008 and August 2010.

Perez, the ringleader of the scheme, was sentenced to three years in state prison and ordered to pay $1,037,225 in restitution last week as part of a similar plea agreement. She is serving a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty last year to related charges in San Bernardino County.