A summer camp ends a life. An investigation also implicates the American Red Cross.

Documents show that Summerkids Camp owners spearheaded a long-term scheme to eliminate required training and testing for lifeguards and water safety instructors.

Summerkids owners Cara DiMassa and “Cowboy Joe” DiMassa enabled the fraudulent certification of camp counselors as Red Cross lifeguards, according to an abundance of publicly available documentation and admissions. By eliminating these requirements for years, the DiMassa family, including Cara’s mother Maria and doctor-brother Giancarlo DiMassa, saved an estimated $5,000-$7,000 in training costs, despite endangering countless children and causing Roxie’s death.

The American Red Cross was aware of critical certification program deficiencies but chose not to act.

Additional records and admissions — including a disturbing sworn affidavit from the former American Red Cross Director of Quality Assurance — illustrates how the $3.8 billion organization is complicit in Roxie’s death. The Red Cross was apparently “willfully blind” when it eliminated virtually all measures to protect against certification fraud, which not only contributed to the wholly preventable drowning of Roxie Forbes but also continues to endanger millions of Americans. As a result, the Red Cross’s lifeguard instructor-representative Andrew Cervantes was able to fraudulently certify himself and an estimated 100 Summerkids counselors as lifeguards and water safety instructors. According to additional documents and incident reports, this “willful blindness” has apparently contributed to additional grave harm.

Cara DiMassa chose to stay in her office and not assist counselors while Roxie was dying on her pool deck.

According to records, DiMassa chose to remain in her office for approximately 10 minutes where she called her mother and father. She never called Roxie’s parents. She never offered to help her frantic, fraudulently certified counselors with traumatized children. She never asked her fraudulently certified counselors how Roxie could have drowned.

Cara DiMassa avoided first responder questions.

Despite the fact that she co-owns the camp and serves as the Director, DiMassa had her former assistant camp director answer questions while DiMassa continued to hole up in her office, according to records.

Cara DiMassa and family made a concerted effort to prevent parents from picking up their traumatized children.

DiMassa emailed thousands of parents, including Roxie’s, a few hours after the preventable drowning. She prevented parents from getting their children because she wanted to “keep the day as normal as possible,” despite the fact that a child had violently died. Dozens of children, some as young as four, witnessed Roxie die at the pool. DiMassa disallowed the parents to comfort them. Some of those children suffered ongoing trauma. Why did DiMassa prevent parents from picking up traumatized children and refuse to immediately interact with sheriffs and EMS?

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.

DiMassa issued a series of emails to thousands of parents in which she made countless lies.

DiMassa claimed all of the counselors were certified Red Cross 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 at the small Summerkids pool noticed Roxie had drowned.

DiMassa 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.

Assistant Camp Director Jaimi Harrison participated in aiding the DiMassas and did not know how to read an AED or assess CPR

According to documents, Harrison obeyed the DiMassa family and carried out their orders. Harrison participated in acts which supported the DiMassa 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 Cara DiMassa’s, were apparently issued without the full training.

Cara’s doctor-brother Giancarlo was supposed to be at the camp, but he was not and Cara lied about his role.

Giancarlo DiMassa, an ER doctor, was in Hawaii when Roxie drowned, according to documents. This was only the second week of operation. He and the DiMassa 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 DiMassa 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 and Joseph Natalizio said they were at the pool when Roxie drowned. They posed as American Red Cross lifeguards, despite the fact that they were fraudulently certified, according to admissions and documents. The Red Cross subsequently revoked their fraudulent certifications when Doug Forbes confronted them about the scheme. These counselors were in charge of critical lifesaving roles — roles in which children as young as three were in their care. The DiMassas avidly promoted such certifications to unknowing families who trusted them with their children’s lives.

The Red Cross enabled an instructor to fraudulently certify himself and others. The DiMassas knew about all of it.

American Red Cross instructor-representative and longtime Summerkids contractor Andrew Cervantes apparently dispensed with upwards of 100 fraudulent lifeguard and water safety instructor certifications. According to records, Cervantes fraudulently certified himself on repeated occasions over a number of years. However, the American Red Cross failed on numerous occasions to reprimand or ban Cervantes from representing the organization, despite possessing a multitude of documents and exchanges which clearly illustrated a breach in standards and practices. The Red Cross banned Cervantes for life only after Doug Forbes called their attention to the matter and demanded action.

The DiMassa’s attorneys have repeatedly attempted to muzzle Doug Forbes in order to prevent the truth from being shared.

While certain information is privileged, other information is not. The DiMassa’s attorneys (which means the DiMassas too) have 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 DiMassas refused to admit that Roxie even drowned. Cara DiMassa said she needs 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. DiMassa’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

• Only weeks after Roxie died 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 DiMassa 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 American Red Cross which willfully eliminated fraud prevention measures.

• Roxie’s parents demanded that the American Red Cross ban Summerkids from training and certifying any employee in any health and safety capacity. The Red Cross agreed.

• Roxie’s parents demanded that the American Red Cross ban its representative Andrew Cervantes. The Red Cross agreed.

• Roxie’s parents demanded that the American Red Cross withdraw all related Summerkids lifeguard and water safety instructor certifications. The Red Cross agreed.

• Roxie’s parents demanded that the Red Cross admit to lethal oversight gaps in its $150 million certification program and work with the foundation to correct them. The Red Cross denied knowing anything and denied the opportunity to work with this foundation. We now know that Red Cross, for years, knew about its lethal deficiencies and refused to do anything about them.

• The former Red Cross Director of Quality Assurance has supported all of these allegations about the Red Cross being willfully blind to its shocking elimination of certification fraud prevention.

• Publicly available documents show that Cara DiMassa repeatedly perjured herself.

• 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.

• Documents show that American Red Cross representative 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.

• Cara DiMassa, 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 DiMassa family did not employ a dedicated health supervisor but chose to position family member Giancarlo DiMassa, who happens to be a part time emergency room doctor, as the facility’s care provider. By multiple accounts, Giancarlo was not on site as promised.

• Roxie’s parents chose this camp, in large part, because the DiMassa’s said they would keep Roxie safe and because the website said, "Giancarlo 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.” Giancarlo was in Hawaii the day Roxie drowned, less than two weeks into camp season. The DiMassas 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 has no camp experience other than being a Summerkids camp parent.