POLICE PROBE ALLEGED PONZI SCHEME INVOLVING CHERRY CREEK, REGIS JESUIT STUDENTS

Students are the focus of a police investigation into an alleged
Ponzi scheme that appears to involve kids at two suburban high schools.

Students at Cherry Creek and Regis Jesuit high schools paid into a
bogus fund to become investors in a medical-marijuana dispensary, police said.

So far, two students, a 16-year-old and a 17- year-old, are either
the victims or suspects in the scheme, according to authorities.

No arrests have been made.

An e-mail blast was sent to parents Tuesday morning by the Denver
Police Department, seeking more potential victims.

"This scam involved students believing that they were investing money
into a medical marijuana dispensary in Denver," according to the
e-mail from police.

Police would say neither how much money was collected nor why the
case was being called a Ponzi scheme, a term for fraudulent
investment operations that pay returns to current investors from fees
paid by newer investors.

Police became aware of the alleged operation Nov. 20, said Denver
Detective John White, adding that all transactions were apparently
made in Denver and none appear to have been made in the high schools.

Ponzi schemes rarely hit teenagers, White said. In this case, both
schools - one public and one private - have student populations among
the more affluent in the area.

"This is unusual for juveniles to be victims in this type of scam,"
he said. "We usually see much more sophisticated investors who have
more money to invest. Not high school students."

White said it is not known whether the dispensary named by the
students soliciting investors is aware that teenagers believed they
were investing money in it. White would name neither the business nor
the students known to be involved.

The student from Cherry Creek High School is enrolled in the school
but has not been to classes for months, said Tustin Amole,
spokeswoman for Cherry Creek School District.

Officials from Regis in Aurora said they are cooperating fully with
the authorities.

Jeremy P. Meyer