Voodoo sex spells, gambling binges, luxury gifts fuel $900K fraud probe into ex-Maryland PTA president

Woman accused of elaborate ‘money laundering’ scheme involving COVID relief funds

Federal officials are investigating a former Maryland PTA president for allegedly embezzling over $900,000 to live a lavish coast-to-coast lifestyle that included luxury trips, gambling benders and Voodoo sex spells — including a curse to break up the marriage of her alleged lover.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland opened a criminal case against LaTonja Carrera, 51, who served as state PTA president from November 2020 to October 2022, according to D.C. attorney and former federal prosecutor Seth Waxman. The state organization oversaw about 800 local PTA chapters and 130,000 volunteer members. The investigation is looking at Carrera’s unauthorized spending of PTA funds from May 2020 through October 2022, Waxman said.

Waxman said federal investigators asked him last month to provide documents from a forensic audit he ordered as a court-appointed receiver of the Maryland PTA in 2022, when he took over to protect and preserve the organization’s assets. The Chicago accounting firm BDO USA conducted the audit. Waxman detailed the findings in a June 2023 lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court on behalf of the state PTA.

Waxman’s complaint joined a 2021 National PTA lawsuit against Carrera, the state PTA board, and the newly formed Alliance for Maryland Parents, Teachers and Students. In May 2020 the national office put the state PTA on probation over “significant leadership issues.” It revoked its charter in March 2021 for failing to comply with bylaws and national PTA standards and filed suit calling Carrera “a rogue” who “threatened and intimidated Local PTAs.” The case was sealed and settled in October 2024. The national PTA announced the formation of a new parent-teacher association, Free State PTA in March 2021...

...Janis Sartucci, an attorney and member of the watchdog group Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, said the lack of vetting is common for these positions.

“It’s been standard operating procedure that candidates for these positions are not vetted,” Sartucci said. “We don’t vet our board of education members.. It’s not something that we are concerned with, which obviously leads the public school system budget open to fraud, embezzlement and waste.”..

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/08/20/voodoo-sex-spells-gambling-binges-luxury-gifts-fuel-900k-fraud-probe-into-ex-md-pta-president/?share=peutvgtenawaoweumebf

Maryland PTA Put into Receivership by Court: Court finds the president “treated the funds of the state association as her personal property”

 ALEXANDRIA, Va., (Oct. 14, 2022)—In the ongoing litigation in Maryland Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland, in the case of National Congress of Parents and Teachers, Inc. v. LaTonya Carrera, et. al, Case No. 486117-V, the Court took the extraordinary step last week of granting National PTA’s request to appoint a Receiver to take control of the former Maryland PTA from Defendant LaTonya Carrera to locate and protect the assets of the former Maryland PTA from further waste. The Court appointed former Federal Prosecutor Seth B. Waxman as Receiver for Maryland PTA, charged with safeguarding the assets of the non-profit and to take over management of the organization. President Carrera and the Board of Directors are now prohibited from having access to the assets of the former Maryland PTA.

In March 2021, National PTA took the extraordinary step to disaffiliate the Maryland PTA from National PTA due to significant issues with board leadership actions. Through disaffiliation and creating an alternative state chapter, Free State PTA, National PTA worked to protect the interests of local PTAs and parents and children throughout Maryland as well as the entire PTA family. Concerns about Carrera had become known to National PTA during the course of National PTA working with the Maryland chapter on compliance with the National PTA Standards of Affiliation. Carrera was previously arrested and has been criminally charged with crimes related to access to the financial accounts of others in the District of Columbia in an unrelated matter.

In granting National PTA’s request for the unusual remedy of appointing a Receiver, the Court stated that “Maryland PTA, largely due to the actions of defendant Carrera (and the corresponding inaction and lack of controls by the Board of Directors of Maryland PTA) had wasted, dissipated and impaired the funds and assets of Maryland PTA to the detriment both of National PTA and the families and students who had paid dues and other funds to Maryland PTA.” During the evidentiary hearing held on Oct. 4, 2022, on National PTA’s request to appoint a Receiver to locate and protect Maryland PTA’s assets, the Court found that Defendant Carrera “used the debit card of the association as her personal credit card, her personal debit card, with no accounting or reconciliation” and “treated the funds of the state association as her personal property.” The Court referred to the evidence it reviewed, stating “it became somewhat painful, the debit card charges that Carrera made on the business, not personal, business debit card.” 

The Court authorized the Receiver to “take control of the management and operation of Maryland PTA,” “account for all funds and assets of Maryland PTA,” and “determine whether, and the extent to which, any funds or assets of Maryland PTA have been wasted, dissipated or spent for purposes unrelated to the reasonable and necessary operation of Maryland PTA or for the improper benefit of individuals.”  The Court further ordered that Defendants are “prohibited from using, obtaining or accessing any funds or property of Maryland PTA (including, but not limited to, bank or investment accounts, deposit accounts, ATM cards, debit cards and credit cards), without the express written permission of the Receiver.” 

National PTA looks forward to resolving the outstanding claims, hopefully without continued litigation, with the Receiver, whose written report is expected in 90 days. National PTA continues to seek to ensure that all assets of the former Maryland PTA, including historical artifacts, and documents as well as property, are used to benefit PTA members in Maryland, and ensure that PTA throughout the country is protected.

Disaffiliated Maryland PTA Put into Receivership by Court