Roxie died at Summerkids Camp. Circumstances were shocking.
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Summerkids camp owners are responsible for the preventable drowning death of 6-year-old Roxie Forbes. They admitted this at trial, six and a half years after Roxie’s parents, Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas, filed their lawsuit. Elena subsequently suffered severe depression, suicidal ideation and was diagnosed with terminal cancer only a year after Roxie’s death. She died March 4, 2022. Her dying words to Doug were, “Get as much justice for Roxie as possible.” Doug fights for justice, facts and truth about summer camp harm so that other families do not have to endure what he does. The following represents just some of what Doug’s fight has looked like during the nearly seven year battle he has endured to ensure that the truth about Summerkids Camp owners finds its way to the public.
Roxie Forbes, Age 2.
No child should ever drown under supervision. No child should ever die at a summer camp unless due to exceptional, unpreventable circumstances.
Why did Roxie drown? How could she possibly die such a violent death at a summer camp? Why did Doug’s trial take place six and a half years after Roxie’s death in the Summerkids camp pool?
Summerkids camp owners include a father and mother who were former local city college professors, a daughter who was a former Los Angeles Times reporter and a brother who is an emergency room doctor. The daughter was the camp director at the time of Roxie’s death.
facilitated the fraudulent lifeguard certification of its counselors, according to an abundance of court documents and admissions. Those counselors were in charge of children as young as three in the relatively small Summerkids swimming pool. The camp owners had their very own children attend Summerkids and swim in the pool under the supervision of fake lifeguards.
The camp-owning family delayed the trial six times, according to publicly available court documents. [The trial commenced on January 13, 2026. Doug and Elena filed the lawsuit November 5, 2019.] Why did the camp owners delay the trial six times instead of holding themselves accountable? Why have they never apologized for Roxie’s death in nearly seven years?
Court documents and admissions speak for themselves. According to those documents, the family also attempted to blame Roxie, a 6-year-old child, for her own drowning death.
We have included the following excerpts from federal trial transcripts and other sources to illustrate how facts matter. Summer camp harm has been a perennial issue in America for decades. That harm has horrific ripple effects.
CLICK ANY OF THE FOLLOWING IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Camp owner-director said child safety was not her number one priority.
Under sworn testimony in 2020, Doug’s attorney asked the camp director-owner if child safety was her number one priority, She refused to say that it was — twice. Were she to have said that to Doug and Elena, let alone to likely any parent who spent thousands of dollars for this woman to supervise their children, Doug and Elena would never have enrolled Roxie in Summerkids Camp.
At trial, Doug’s attorney (different reminded the camp director-owner about what she originally said about safety, her responses were completely different.
Documents show very young children at risk for decades.
Summerkids Camp owners were responsible for the fraudulent certification of camp counselors as lifeguards and water safety instructors, according to an abundance of publicly available court documents, transcripts and admissions. Multiple sources who formerly worked at Summerkids confirmed that the camp-owning family chose to not provide legitimate lifeguard training for at least two decades, if not longer. Nonetheless the camp-owning family told thousands of parents they had legitimately certified Red Cross lifeguards. Like the vast majority of camps with aquatics activities, swimming was the most popular activity at Summerkids, where children as young as three used the pool.
The family saved an estimated $5,000 in training costs each year, at the risk of knowingly endangering thousands of children and causing Roxie’s death, according to documents and transcripts. Here are just a few emails from former Summerkids counselors who discuss the trauma they experienced under the supervision of the camp-owning family.
2006-2014: The camp director-owner and her co-owner father, mother and doctor-brother misled thousands of parents about their counselors being legitimate lifeguards.
The camp-owning family hired a gentleman named Kasey Bell in 2006. Mr. Bell told the camp owners he would provide some safety instruction to counselors but he made it clear that he would not be able to legitimately train and certify the counselors as Red Cross lifeguards. Nonetheless, the camp-owning family intentionally retained Mr. Bell for eight years, knowing that, from 2006-2014, they put upwards of 100 counselors at their pool — who were not trained, certified lifeguards — and those counselors were in charge of thousands of children over time, some of whom were as young as three. Despite this, the camp owners advertised to thousands of parents that their counselors were properly trained and certified Red Cross lifeguards, which constituted fraud, based on court documents.
2014-2019: The camp director-owner and her family hired a fraudulent lifeguard instructor and misled thousands of parents about their counselors being legitimate Red Cross lifeguards, which constitutes fraud, according to court documents. A federal judge allowed Doug Forbes to pursue a fraud charge at trial, based on Doug’s investigation. Doug shared his findings with the American Red Cross, which consequently banned the camp-owning family for life as a Red Cross training provider.
The camp owners hired a man named Andrew Cervantes who fraudulently certified himself as a Red Cross lifeguard and instructor. The camp owners intentionally never cared to background check him. They never cared to check his training records. They never attended a single training session. In fact, they never actually interviewed him. They simply worked with Cervantes to cut the required training by 75%, which saved them money and time, which means they were able to pocket more money for themselves. Cervantes had access to the Red Cross certification system, which enabled the camp owners to get certifications for their counselors, despite those certifications being fraudulently obtained, according to an abundance of documents and testimony. The Red Cross also took action against Cervantes and revoked every Summerkids’ counselor’s lifeguard and water safety certification.
The camp director-owner chose to stay in her office and not assist counselors while Roxie was dying on her pool deck.
According to records, the director, who is also a member of the family that owns the camp, chose to hole up in her office for approximately 15 minutes where she called her mother and father. During and immediately after the drowning, she chose to never call Roxie’s parents. She never offered to help her frantic, ill-trained counselors. She never helped manage the traumatized children. She never asked her counselors fraudulently certified as lifeguards how Roxie could have drowned. Court documents, trial transcripts, exhibits and depositions affirm all of this.
The camp director-owner avoided first responder questions.
Despite the fact that she co-owns the camp and served as its director, she had her former assistant camp director answer questions while she continued to hole up in her office. Court documents, trial transcripts, exhibits and depositions affirm all of this.
Photo from the lifeguard chair at the small Summerkids camp pool. A counselor was supposed to watch Roxie at the steps area in the upper right. She wound up floating face-down, 20 feet away near the buoy line.
The camp director and her family prevented parents from picking up their traumatized children.
They emailed thousands of parents, including Roxie’s, shortly after the preventable drowning. They prevented parents from accessing their children because they wanted to “keep the day as normal as possible,” despite the fact that children as young as four witnessed a child violently die. The camp-owning family disallowed the parents to comfort their children immediately after this horrific death event. Some of those children suffered ongoing trauma and required trauma counseling. The camp-owning family said it was in the “best interest of the [children] and counselors” without asking parents what they wanted for their own children. Why did the camp-owning family prevent hundreds of parents from picking up traumatized children and other children who were near the scene? Why did the camp-owning family refuse to immediately interact with sheriffs and EMS? Why did the camp-owning family believe that a child's violent, preventable death was not enough to close the camp… not even that day? Why did the camp-owning family possibly think this could be a “normal” rest of the day at a camp ultimately responsible for Roxie’s death?
Two Suspected Child Abuse Reports were immediately filed.
The first responding deputy issued a Suspected Child Abuse Report later that day. Another party issued a similar report soon thereafter. EMS noted suspicious if not dubious counselor statements in their reports.
The camp director and family issued a series of emails to thousands of parents in which they made false statements.
DiMassa claimed all of the counselors were certified lifeguards. According to multiple records she knew they were certified without required training and testing. She said the counselors only looked away from Roxie for 10-15 seconds. Not only is it impossible to die from drowning in that time period, but one of the fraudulently certified counselors said she did not pay attention to Roxie for five minutes. Aquatics and health experts said the fraudulently certified counselors likely ignored Roxie’s drowning for more than five minutes.
None of the fake lifeguards noticed Roxie had drowned and was floating atop the pool for what could have been more than six minutes.
The camp owner-director failed to tell parents that not one of the four fraudulently certified counselors at the pool noticed Roxie floating dead. A counselor named Robert Antonucci allegedly spotted Roxie floating dead. Antonucci said he was upwards of 45 feet away and behind a fence. Roxie was reportedly floating beneath a basketball hoop located on the deck of the pool. Nobody can explain how Antonucci could see Roxie when the others who claim to be at the pool could not.
This pool is not much larger than a good-sized backyard pool. Yet, not one of the 4 or 5 counselors who were supposed to be watching children spotted Roxie drowning or floating dead in the small shallow end.
Assistant Camp Director Jaimi Harrison participated in aiding the camp owners and did not know how to read an AED or assess CPR
According to documents, Harrison obeyed the camp owner family and carried out their orders. According to documents, Harrison participated in acts which supported the camp owner family in its efforts to withhold circumstances of the drowning from the public. According to records, she misinterpreted the AED (automated external defibrillator) machine, she failed to attached pediatric AED pads and she did not know how to assess or aid in proper CPR. According to the American Heart Association, Harrison’s CPR/first aid/automated external defibrillator (AED) training did not meet requirements. Her certifications, along with 12 other Summerkids staffers including the camp director-woner, were apparently issued without the full training.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cited Summerkids and the DiMassa family for nine pool violations, including the incorrect pool occupancy sign. The camp owning family posted a sign for 75 swimmers when it was supposed to be 60. Former counselors have said that the pool was always overcrowded and chaotic.
The camp co-owner, who is an emergency room doctor and brother of the camp director, was supposed to be at the camp, but he was not, and his sister lied about his role.
The doctor-brother was in Hawaii when Roxie drowned, according to documents. This was only the second week of operation. He and this camp-owning family stipulated in writing and communications, before Summerkids commenced activity, that he would rearrange his ER shifts to be at Summerkids on a regular basis, which clearly implied consistent medical supervision from a professional. Multiple documents made it clear that he was rarely if ever at Summerkids during 2019. The camp-owning family removed his name from the Summerkids website after the drowning.
The counselors at the pool knew they did not have required lifeguard training but accepted the certifications.
Summerkids counselors Daniel “Hank” Rainey, Faith Porter, Natalie DelCastillo, Joseph Natalizio and Dillon Beacerraf-Gajda said they were at the pool when Roxie drowned. They posed as lifeguards, despite the fact that Summerkids camp Director perpetrated a scheme that fraudulently certified them without required training or any testing, according to admissions and documents. These counselors were in charge of critical lifesaving roles — roles in which children as young as three were in their care. The camp-owning family avidly promoted such certifications to unknowing families who trusted them with their young ones’ lives. The lifeguard certification organization subsequently revoked the fraudulent certifications after Doug Forbes alerted them about the camp owning family’s scheme.
An instructor fraudulently certified himself and others. The camp owners knew about all of it.
Andrew Cervantes was the Summerkids lifeguard instructor who colluded with the camp owners to fraudulently certify upwards of 100 counselors as lifeguards and water safety instructors. According to records, Cervantes fraudulently certified himself on repeated occasions over a number of years. The lifeguard certification organization banned Cervantes after Doug Forbes alerted them about the Cervantes scheme.
The camp owners’ attorneys repeatedly attempted to muzzle Doug Forbes and his now-deceased wife in order to prevent the truth from being shared.
While certain information is privileged, other information is not. The camp owners’ attorneys has made numerous attempts to threaten Doug Forbes and his now deceased wife Elena Matyas so that certain damning information that Forbes - a journalist - has uncovered on his own remains quiet. This information is on this website solely to help parents and guardians understand the lengths to which some operations will go to prevent facts from being aired. Doug has traveled the nation to explore summer camp harm. He has found that eerily similar circumstances bind camps that not only commit harm but also administer aggressive coverup campaigns.
According to documents, first responders, Summerkids staffers and parents said that Summerkids was in utter “chaos” when Roxie was found dead. Parents said their children at the pool were traumatized. First responders said the children were still on the pool deck when while Summerkids staffers were violently administering faulty rescue treatment. Summerkids counselor Faith Porter admitted that she even walked the children directly past Roxie who lay dead on the deck.
Parents demanded answers. The camp-owning family refused to admit that Roxie even drowned. The camp director-owner said she needed more information, even after having thousands of documents, including medical reports from multiple sources and a dozen depositions at her fingertips. Every first responder and medical document has concluded that Roxie drowned and not because of any medical condition. The camp director-owner’s own staff has admitted to neglecting Roxie, despite knowing she was a learning swimmer like other children in the pool.
This website is availed to help caregivers make informed decisions about recreational child care facilities like Summerkids — otherwise known as camps — and aquatics-related activities. It also helps caregivers understand that facilities that do commit harm should be held accountable.
SUMMARY
Multiple sources say that the camp-owning family purposefully never properly certified counselors as lifeguards in at least 20 years if for the entire 3+ decades they had a pool.
Only weeks after Roxie died of wholly preventable drowning at Summerkids due to a fraudulent lifeguard certification scheme, another child Roxie’s age had to be rushed to the hospital with a very serious injury. Records show that approximately 8 other harm incidents occurred at Summerkids in relatively recent years.
Not one medical document, first responder or doctor has cited Roxie’s cause of death as anything other than drowning.
The camp-owning family refuses to tell families the correct cause of death or the circumstances that caused Roxie’s death.
Roxie drowned due to a fraudulent lifeguard certification scheme enabled by the camp-owning family. The director and her father orchestrated the scheme to save a few thousand dollars on training at the risk of harming children as young as three.
Roxie’s parents demanded that the lifeguard certification company ban Summerkids from training and certifying any employee in any health and safety capacity. The company complied.
Roxie’s parents demanded that the lifeguard certification company ban its representative Andrew Cervantes. The company complied.
Roxie’s parents demanded that the the lifeguard certification company revoke all related Summerkids lifeguard and water safety instructor certifications. The company complied
Publicly available documents show the camp-owning director repeatedly perjured herself.
Publicly available documents prove that counselors Hank Rainey, Faith Porter and Natalie Del Castillo admitted to participating in the fraudulent lifeguard certification scheme.
Emerging evidence draws concerns that counselor Faith Porter might not have been at the pool during all times.
Publicly available documents show that lifeguard trainer Andrew Cervantes admitted to executing the fraud scheme.
Former assistant director Jaimi Harrison admitted to numerous acts of complicity and derelict CPR and AED.
Multiple parties, including Summerkids staff and first responders, said that Summerkids was in chaos with no clear execution of an emergency action plan.
The camp-owning family, Harrison and the counselors admitted to a lack of required training and testing for a complex, high-risk child care environment that managed up to 900 children each summer.
The camp-owning family did not employ a dedicated health supervisor but, instead, chose to falsely position their family member-doctor as the facility’s care provider. Multiple sources confirmed that the doctor-brother was not on site as promised.
Roxie’s parents chose this camp, in large part, because the camp-owning family said they would keep Roxie safe and because the website said, "[brother’s name] 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.” He was actually in Hawaii the day Roxie drowned, less than two weeks into camp season. The camp-owning family lied about his presence at the camp.
Summerkids hired assistant director Maya Kogan who had no professional child care experience or related recreational facility experience. She left after one year. New assistant director Carrie Meadows had no camp experience other than being a Summerkids camp parent. The camp-owning family did not hire an Assistant Director ithereafter.