Missing Child Solicitation Firm Probed

Downey police said Friday they had infiltrated a telephone solicitation firm that allegedly misrepresented itself as a charitable organization attempting to help locate missing children.

The firm, Kidsearch Inc., collected at least $200,000 from hundreds of Southeast Los Angeles residents since last November, but no more than a few hundred dollars was spent on charitable purposes, police said.

Working with Internal Revenue Service agents, police used a search warrant Friday afternoon to seize financial records at the firm’s two offices on Paramount and Lakewood boulevards.

Arrested at the Lakewood Boulevard office was James Michael Penta, 42, of Downey. He was freed on $500 bail on an outstanding bad-check warrant. The charge is unrelated to the Kidsearch investigation, said Detective Gary Morrow, who investigated the case.

While no charges have yet been filed against Penta, Capt. Jim Shade of the Downey police said they will seek charges of grand theft by fraud against Penta and his wife, Holly, the firm’s vice president. The firm used 50 employees to solicit donations to pay for a telethon to raise money to find missing children, Shade said. While Penta and his wife took home a combined monthly salary of $10,000, only a few hundred dollars of the money collected was spent on charitable purposes, for bumper stickers and newsletters, Shade said.

Police said the firm was infiltrated by a female officer posing as a telephone operator. In their search of the firm’s offices, police said they found boxes containing 10,000 receipts from residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties for contributions ranging from $5 to $500.

“I felt it was a good cause, I was more than willing to help,” said Judy Menefee of Rowland Heights, who mailed Kidsearch Inc. a $25 check Thursday. “I have two 11-year-olds and I could sympathize with people who are missing children.”

Menefee said she was told that her contribution would pay for circulating 100 bundles of the firm’s newspapers to area stores. The firm’s solicitors told her the newspapers featured photos of missing children.

“I was concerned about missing children,” said Jim Wilson of Lynwood, who sent the firm a $25 check last month.

Penta’s lawyer, Victor E. Hobbs of Laguna Niguel, could not be reached for comment.