Ex-Officer Given Probation for Scam

A former Simi Valley police officer was placed on probation Friday for his role in an illegal pyramid scheme that also cost a colleague his job.

Raymond Madden pleaded guilty last month to participating in the illegal financial scam and a judge Friday reduced the conviction to a misdemeanor, noting Madden’s previously clean record and service to the community.

Madden and former Officer Michael Cratch resigned from the Simi Valley Police Department after they were charged with running the scheme. Cratch and five other men had earlier received probation sentences. All participants were convicted of misdemeanors.

Grand jury transcripts show that Cratch and Madden recruited their colleagues to become “investors” and were undone by two police officers who took exception to the sales pitch. Pyramid schemes require more and more investors to pay the organizers, those at the top of the so-called pyramid.

Invariably, the pyramid collapses, leaving most investors with losses, Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison said.