Pyramid Schemers Sentenced, Fined

Four people, including three San Fernando Valley residents, were sentenced Friday to 60 days of community service and fined a total of $5,800 for running an illegal pyramid game, authorities said.

Lee Eldon Valentine, 45, of Northridge, Scott Matthew Reiss, 35, of North Hollywood, Glenda Sue Blackwell, 54, of Burbank, and John Mendoza, 33, of Silver Lake, pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Municipal Court to one count each of operating an endless chain scheme, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Judge Paula Adele Mabrey also placed the four on three years’ probation and ordered them to pay restitution to any victims that may be found in the next three years, Qualls said.

The LAPD Devonshire Division vice detectives, who conducted the undercover investigation last November, arrested the four, but so far no victims have come forward, said Greg Parham, the deputy city attorney who handled the case.

Acting on a tip, detectives posed as potential participants and infiltrated a meeting of the game called The Platinum Gift Club, Parham said.

Detectives said they heard Reiss tell prospective players that in four to five weeks they could make $16,000 from a $2,000 cash investment, Parham said.

According to prosecutors, Reiss and Blackwell also told the audience that each person had already made $32,000 from the game.

The officers also told prosecutors that Mendoza was involved in recruiting game participants and that they found documents indicating that Valentine was the chairman of one of the club’s games, Qualls said.

The judge ordered the four to perform their community work on a Caltrans or graffiti-removal crew, Qualls said.