Ventura Woman Pleads Guilty to Bilking Investors

A Ventura woman has pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of more than $5 million in a strawberry farming operation she owned with her husband, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Brenda Paak Willingham, 52, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two dozen felonies, including securities fraud and grand theft in connection with investments in Sunshine Fresh Produce of Oxnard and Willingham Farms in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Her husband, Dennis Willingham, 45, has pleaded not guilty to similar charges and faces a preliminary hearing in July.

Both remained jailed Wednesday in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Following a two-year investigation that culminated in their arrests in early December, the Willinghams were charged with more than 70 felony counts of defrauding 37 investors from 1998 through 2003.

Some clients invested as little as $2,000, but at least one handed over more than $1 million, Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric J. Dobroth said. In individual and business bankruptcy petitions filed in 2001, the couple listed $36 million in debt and 600 unsecured creditors.

Many of the investments were procured through false statements and factual omissions made about the businesses, authorities said. Willingham Farms was the growing operation and Sunshine Fresh was a berry brokerage company.

“Some people didn’t lose as much as others, but it was devastating to some folks,” Dobroth said of the fraud.

Brenda Willingham’s attorney, Philip Capritto, did not return a message left at his Ventura office.

Brenda Willingham faces up to 15 years in prison and $5 million in restitution at a July 26 sentencing hearing. With the plea, prosecutors were expected to drop the additional felonies filed against her.

In addition to the criminal cases, the Willinghams have been named in several civil lawsuits filed by the investors.