SF SAFE's former executive director arrested for allegedly misusing more than $700K in public funds

SAN FRANCISCO -- The former executive director of a San Francisco nonprofit was arrested Tuesday on dozens of felony charges related to misusing over $700,000 of public funds, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said.

The former director has been charged with misappropriation of public money, grand theft by embezzlement, submitting fraudulent invoices, wage theft and writing fraudulent checks while she was the head of SF SAFE, a 48-year-old nonprofit aimed at enhancing safety and crime prevention in San Francisco through community organizing, prosecutors said.

Her theft and mismanagement led to her getting fired and the nonprofit abruptly shutting down in January 2024 with no assets.

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An investigation into the extent of the former director's misuse of funds began after an audit by the San Francisco Office of the Controller revealed that the nonprofit misspent at least $80,000 in grant funds from the San Francisco Police Department on expenses such as luxury gift boxes, a Lake Tahoe trip, parking fees and permits and ride-hailing services.

The former director, who was hired at the beginning of 2018, allegedly used and stole more than $100,000 of SF SAFE funds for her own personal use during her tenure with the nonprofit. She is accused of spending $90,000 on a home health care worker for her parents in North Carolina and checks totaling $8,000 to her landlord. She designated these payments as community meeting expenses and part of a safety project for District 10 of San Francisco, the District Attorney's Office said.

Even as the nonprofit was running out of money, the former director allegedly spent lavishly on parties and gifts. In 2022 and 2023, she allegedly spent more than $350,000 of SFSAFE's reserve on luxury gift boxes. She also held an event called "Candy Explosion" in October 2023 where she is accused of spending about $100,000 of the nonprofit's funds on desserts and ice cream, a taco truck, a petting zoo, event planners, a climbing wall, bouncy houses and "mobile luxury restrooms."

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Additionally, she allegedly spent about $56,000 of the nonprofit's funds on a SF SAFE holiday party.

She is also facing 24 felony counts of wage theft, prosecutors said.

She received more than half a million public dollars from the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development and allegedly never paid it to employees of partner organizations including Bay Area Community Resources and Calle 24 Latino Cultural District as was agreed in a contract.

The former director is also charged with four counts of submitting fraudulent invoices to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development , falsely indicating that she had paid full wages and taxes to all employees related to this contract, prosecutors said.

She allegedly stopped paying payroll taxes for 27 employees from September 2023 to January 2024 when the nonprofit ceased operations. Over the course of four months, the alleged wage theft totaled about $80,000, prosecutors said.

The owners of Diosa Blooms in the Mission District say they have been set back nearly $17,000 because of the former executive director of SF SAFE.

"We have not been paid yet," said Krisha Militante of Diosa Blooms, "It put us in a bit of a financial struggle because we are a small family business, and every dollar does count. It's really unfortunate for us to take a financial loss. We did consider them as good clients and neighbors."

Diosa Blooms says the SF SAFE director often ordered flowers. The business says they are owed $17,000 for two large events.

"The first one was holiday party. And the second event was for Black History Month," said Militante, "$17,000 may seem crazy for flowers but when you ask for top shelf premium flowers, it's going to add up especially for a big event like that."

"She never really had a budget. She just said 'I want this flower. I want this many.' We did find it weird. She was head of a nonprofit. Where did this budget come from?" said Katie Militante with Diosa Blooms.

ABC7 News reached out to San Francisco Police Department. They released this statement saying:

"The SFPD thanks the district attorney's office for its thorough investigation and diligent work on this case."

As for Diosa Blooms, they hope they'll get answers and be paid soon.

"It sucks to be part of that situation. We just want things to be right for our end and the other business that were affected," said Militante.

Months of investigation led to the former director's arrest after accumulating 34 felony charges. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the San Francisco District Attorney's Public Integrity Task Force tip line at (628) 652-4444. Tips may remain anonymous.

ABC7 News reporter Suzanne Phan contributed to this report.