Public Giveth and Scam Artists Taketh Away

These guys should be run out of town.

Police and health officials say two men posing as fund-raisers for AIDS causes have been scamming money in the name of a real event called “Walk for Life.”

At least a dozen people have handed over a few bucks to the con artists, who have been soliciting donations outside businesses in Oxnard, Ojai, Camarillo and Santa Barbara, officials say.

“This is very problematic,” said Sal Fuentes, program director for AIDS Project Ventura County. “People are getting scared off [from donating] and those really in need of our services are getting ripped off.”

The scam was first reported in January when an Oxnard restaurant owner called police after donating $10 to a bogus charity called the Edward Cardoza 14th annual Aids Walk for Children.

Since then, authorities say similar pitches have been reported for an “Art Cardoza” fund-raiser and pediatric AIDS research. In every case, the suspects offer a receipt with a fake address and phone number.

Many legitimate volunteers for the county AIDS organization are out at various locations trying to raise money for the Oct. 22 walk. They carry pledge sheets, which people should ask to see.

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Although seven months have passed since Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged into the ocean off Port Hueneme, local leaders are still hard at work helping family members deal with the tragic event.

A team from Ventura County, including sheriff’s spokesman Eric Nishimoto and former Port Hueneme Police Chief Steve Campbell, flew to Seattle last week to help plan a memorial service for Jan. 31, the first anniversary of the crash.

“We met at a hotel and some of the families were there along with Alaska Airlines and the Red Cross,” Nishimoto said.

The group discussed four locations in Port Hueneme for a permanent memorial that will contain the names of the victims. Nishimoto said the families have not yet decided on the design.

“The most important thing to them is that it’s at a location that has a direct view of Anacapa Island, near where the plane went down,” Nishimoto said.

Family members in Seattle plan to solicit the input of other parents and siblings of survivors in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas before making a final decision.

The group also discussed holding two memorial services on the anniversary, a private affair for family members at Point Mugu and a second one for the public near the pier in Port Hueneme.

The airline company, which flew the local team to Seattle, also plans to pay for part of the memorial and has offered to transport family members to the anniversary service, Nishimoto said.

A county committee that includes Supervisor Kathy Long has been formed and will continue to work with family members on the project, he said.

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While some teenagers spent the summer sneaking beers, smoking joints or worse, at least two boys worked each day on a yearlong, hopefully lifelong, project--staying clean and sober.

Those two youths, 16 and 17, will graduate next week from Ventura County’s Juvenile Drug Court. Officials say the boys were the first two applicants to the new program and will be the first graduates.

The road to sobriety has been long and rough.

“This isn’t easy for them to do,” said Florence Prushan, assistant executive of Ventura County Superior Court.

For the last year, the boys had frequent home and school visits from a probation counselor, weekly drug tests, peer-group meetings three times a week and family therapy weekly. This along with appearances in Drug Court twice a month.

The program started in July 1999 in response to a shortage of county clinics for addicted teens, officials said. The idea is to get young, repeat offenders off drugs and stop them from breaking the law.

In return for their commitment, graduates can have their probation periods shortened and avoid Juvenile Hall.

“Every week new kids come into it,” Prushan said. “Some relapse and fall out, that happens, and others don’t.”

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Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.