Pyramid Game Case Continues to Divide Town

When classes begin Thursday at College of the Desert, David George will be in the classroom teaching courses in business management and critical thinking.

George was formerly the college president, but resigned for what some considered an episode of uncritical thinking--and prosecutors considered felony conduct.

He was one of nine high-profile members of this desert community indicted last summer on charges of promoting an “endless chain” pyramid game--the get-together version of a chain letter.

At its apex, the game burned across this resort area of manicured greens and turquoise swimming pools, enticing more than 1,000 people to pony up money--usually $2,000--in hopes of collecting a much bigger payoff from later participants.

Held in hotel lobbies, private homes and even churches, the games were the hottest events in town. They drew schoolteachers and socialites, hotel workers and denizens of high finance, many considering it no more wicked than a Saturday night poker game.

A year later, the dust from the tumbling pyramid is still settling. George and four other players pleaded guilty this month to violating a state law against endless chains, which are illegal scams where a few win at the expense of many others.

The others pleading guilty were Matt Monica Jr., a counselor at the community college where George was president; Monica’s wife, Mary Anne, a secretary at the college; and Kathleen Rector and Diana Hodgkins, both concierges at a nearby resort.

As part of the plea agreement, Riverside County prosecutors agreed to reduce the charges to misdemeanors and not send any of the five to jail. They will spend 18 months on probation and have agreed to pay back people who lost money.

When considering the deal, the district attorney’s office seemed to grapple with the same question that still faces this insulated community: What to do when seemingly good people do bad things?

“Based upon their lack of criminal records and their willingness to accept responsibility, we felt it was an appropriate decision,” said Dist. Atty. Grover Trask.

Attorney Rodney Soda expressed relief that his clients, the Monicas, can continue with their lives and jobs at the Coachella Valley’s only college.

“They’re just the nicest people. They felt so bad,” Soda said. “They told anybody who would listen that they were involved and they spent about $50,000 paying people back, even some people they never received any money from.

“The thought of those two in jail was so ludicrous.”

George has kept a lower profile. The former president and his lawyer did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

Felony charges are pending against four defendants. They are Delores Ballesteros, who was fired as superintendent of the Desert Sands Unified School District after admitting involvement in the games; Nancy Dolensek, former executive director of the McCallum Theatre for the Performing Arts; Vickie Brown, the theater’s former controller; and Marianna Dorson, a retiree who allegedly made a full-time job of the game.

The trials are set for October.

In the meantime, Ballesteros is running for a seat on the same school board that fired her.

Ballesteros said she did nothing wrong and will continue to fight the charges.

“I may have been gullible, naive. But I don’t feel like I’m a criminal,” Ballesteros said. “I have 41 years of service in public education and with that experience, I could be a really good school board member.”

Prosecutors describe Ballesteros as one of the ringleaders in the pyramid scam--sometimes known as “Friends-Helping-Friends”--who used her school position to enlist struggling teachers to play.

Ballesteros said she was simply being hospitable.

“Some teachers wanted to get together and hear more about the plan,” she said this week. “So being a Good Samaritan I offered my home, because I didn’t think a teacher should have that burden foisted upon them.”

According to grand jury transcripts, the scheme worked like this:

Charts decorated with foil stars showed four-tiered pyramids: eight places on the bottom, then four, then two, then the top. When the bottom eight people each paid $2,000 to the person at the apex, the recipient “retired,” the pyramid split in two, and everyone moved up a level. Eight new participants then were recruited to sustain each new pyramid. Thus, prosecutors say, the scheme was endless.

Investigators say more than $1 million changed hands. The grand jury transcripts described crowds feverishly counting “$100! . . . $200! . . .” as winners received cash payments up to $16,000.

Hundreds of people played, but investigators said they targeted those who promoted the games or used positions of trust to lure others.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Kotkin said the state outlaws such scams to protect people against greed run amok.

Jay Orr, who supervises the fraud division of the Riverside County district attorney’s office, said the office has “bent over backward even at the risk of appearing lenient,” trying to resolve the cases short of trial.

If convicted, each of the four remaining defendants faces up to three years in prison.

Despite setbacks and lost jobs, many in the group remain visible in the community.

That rankles Joyce Moore, a secretary at the college who was one of the original whistle-blowers.

“People pretend it never happened,” Moore said. “There’s some talk behind their backs. But they’re here. They have positions. I’m disappointed. It’s like if you’re white-collar, you don’t have to pay the price.”