Cara, Cowboy Joe, Mama Maria and Giancarlo DiMassa — who are Summerkids owner-operators — have willfully deceived thousands of Los Angeles families for years.
According to evidence, they have endangered minors, committed fraud, hid money and lied under oath. They knowingly and unapologetically sustain a high-risk environment for children, where one has died, others were seriously injured, including another 6-year-old weeks after they ended Roxie’s life.
Cowboy Joe and Cara largely run the show. Giancarlo, a doctor, has recently disappeared from the Summerkids website after years of being falsely touted as the ever-present health and safety staffer.
They DiMassas keep a $50 non-refundable application fee under any and all circumstances and keep other fees based on withdrawals from the camp months in advance.
The DiMassa family reaps this money — which can amount to tens of thousands of dollars.
Incidentally, they do not refund full payments — ranging from $1-4 thousand dollars — under any circumstances after May 15.
The DiMassa family ended Roxie’s life on June 28, 2019, only 10 days after Summerkids welcomed children. They refused to refund Roxie’s $3,030 tuition until forced to do so by attorneys three months later.
The DiMassas have recently been banned by the American Red Cross. This is a fact proved on this website.
The DiMassas and staff admitted, under oath, to committing negligent and fraudulent acts. These facts are proved on this website.
Cara DiMassa, hid in her office while Roxie lay dead or dying at her pool, according to emergency services documents. DiMassa said it was policy for her to hole up in her office during emergencies. She called her mother and father. She never bothered calling us.
DiMassa never even bothered to make herself available for interviews by first responders, one of whom issued a Suspected Child Abuse Report. DiMassa allowed traumatized children to endure the chaos as incompetent and ill-prepared staff had no training in emergency action planning, according to documents.
Based upon an ever-growing volume of evidence, the DiMassa’s have exacted superficial training, fraudulent American Red Cross lifeguard certification and Heartsaver® CPR schemes and other abuses year after year.
The DiMassa family’s decisions to put children at severe risk is apparently driven by money, commencing with their No Refund Policy.
The DiMassas demand checks and cash only. Contrary to their statement that they, “make significant financial outlays well before summer begins,” no such proof exists.
The DiMassa family, namely Cowboy Joe DiMassa, buries and moves money through a series of shadowy entities. They apparently do so to evade tax requirements.
The DiMassa family has a $1 million insurance policy to cover upwards of 900 children each summer. Parents must ask themselves why the DiMassa family has chosen a bare minimum policy for decades. Their stunning choice clearly places little value on children’s lives.
This is merely one of the irrefutable symbols of the DiMassa family since their 1979 business launch. On the outside, it’s all fun and games and goodness. On the inside lies something deeply disturbing.
This site exists because children and families deserve nothing less than the truth about who these people are and why they do what they do.
Cara DiMassa
Current Summerkids Director and co-owner. Mother of two Summerkids attendees, including one who is a Junior Counselor. Former Los Angeles Times reporter. Board member of Young and Healthy, Pasadena. Owner of a house in Altadena worth an estimated $2.4 million. Longtime friend of Jim Rainey of the LA Times and Alison Bell Rainey of USC, the parents of Daniel “Hank” Rainey, one of the fraudulent lifeguards in the Summerkids pool whose negligence contributed to Roxie’s drowning. Married to Shawn Nelson, Assistant United States Attorney. Longtime friend of Steve Madison, an attorney at Quinn Emmanuel in Los Angeles. Madison defended the DiMassas against the California Attorney General’s lawsuit against them. However, Madison is also our very own councilman here in Pasadena’s Sixth District and one who believes it is humane to defend the facility that ended the life of his constituents’ daughter.
Joe DiMassa
Father of Cara and Giancarlo. Former Pasadena City College professor of religious studies who retired around 1990. Apparently strongly considered becoming a priest. Prefers to be called “Cowboy Joe.” Current Summerkids co-owner, former Director. Officially incorporated Summerkids in 1990. Heavily involved in daily operations. Primary signatory on most Summerkids business records. Architect of multiple entities through which the DiMassas bury money. Able to afford the following, first on a city college teacher’s salary then running Summerkids beneath the radar for a decade (1980-1990) and thereafter on checks and cash only:
put Cara and Giancarlo through Pasadena’s most expensive private school, known as Polytechnic School (currently costs $30-$40K per year)
put them through two expensive colleges
purchased 57 acres of property
purchased Sierra Bonita Avenue Apartments, Pasadena
purchased 1630 Knollwood Drive, Pasadena, estimated value $1.4 million
purchased 1640 Knollwood Drive, Pasadena, estimated value $2.1 million
purchased 3797 El Sereno Ave, Altadena, estimated value $815K
purchased 3807 El Sereno Ave, Altadena, estimated value $865K
purchased 1327 Linda Vista, Pasadena, estimated value $1.5 million
purchased 840 Green Street, Pasadena, estimated value $1 million
also purchased a commercial property since sold and two other residential properties since sold
Maria DiMassa
Mother of Cara and Giancarlo. Former associate professor of English at Pasadena City College who retired around 1990 to formally open Summerkids with husband Joe. Apparently considered becoming a nun. Current Summerkids co-owner. Known as “Mama Maria.” Heavily involved in daily operations, primarily financials. Mentioned above, co-architect of multiple entities through which the DiMassas move money.
Giancarlo DiMassa
Emergency medicine physician in Long Beach. Claims to have been regularly on-site at Summerkids as a health supervisor. Documents prove otherwise. Staff bio was reduced on the Summerkids website after Roxie’s death. Bio is now altogether removed from the website. Mandated reporter (because he is a doctor) but never reported injuries, including Roxie’s death. Mandated reporters are legally required to ensure a report is made when abuse, injury is observed or suspected. Perhaps this is why Giancarlo has removed himself from the Summerkids site… "A person who fails to make a required report is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail and/or up to a $1000 fine (P.C. 11166[c]). He or she may also be found civilly liable for damages, especially if the child-victim or another child is further victimized because of the failure to report (Landeros vs. Flood (1976) 17C.3d399). Furthermore PC 11166.01[b] states that “any mandated reporter who willfully fails to report abuse or neglect, or any person who impedes or inhibits a report of abuse or neglect... where that abuse or neglect results in death or great bodily injury, shall be punished by not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.”