SF SAFE director accused of misusing $700K in public funds, faces 34 felony charges
The former director of a now-shuttered San Francisco nonprofit is facing 34 felony charges after allegedly misusing $700,000 in funds, officials said Tuesday.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office announced that 49-year-old Kyra Worthy of Richmond, the former executive director of SF SAFE, was arrested Tuesday by investigators.
Worthy faces numerous charges including misappropriation of public money, grand theft, wage theft from employees and writing checks with insufficient funds, a practice known as "check kiting."
According to prosecutors, SF SAFE was an organization that partnered with the San Francisco Police Department. The organization closed its doors earlier this year after nearly five decades in operation.
Worthy was hired by SF SAFE in 2018. At the time she was brought on to the organization, prosecutors said the group had cash reserves in excess of $300,000.
"Despite SF SAFE receiving millions of dollars in public and private funds over the next five years, Ms. Worthy's theft and mismanagement resulted in the 48-year-old charity having no assets and ceasing operations in January of 2024," the DA's office said in a statement.
According to the affidavit, Worthy allegedly misappropriated more than $500,000 from the city's Office of Employment and Workforce Development intended for a "Mission Safe Streets" program, failing to pay two groups that were part of the contract, Bay Area Community Resources and Calle 24 Latino District.
The complaint also alleges that she spent more than $100,000 of SF SAFE funds for her own use. Worthy allegedly used the group's funds to pay her landlord and for a home healthcare worker for her parents in North Carolina.
Worthy also faces 24 counts of wage theft after she allegedly stopped withholding and paying payroll taxes for 27 employees from Sep. 2023 through January of this year, when the group shut down. The alleged wage theft totaled about $80,000, prosecutors said.
The complaint also details lavish spending as the group was running out of money, including $350,000 in luxury gift boxes, $98,000 for a "Halloween Candy Explosion" event in October of last year and more than $50,000 for a SF SAFE holiday party.
Police asked the DA's Office to investigate the organization due to the group's relationship with SFPD.
Over the course of the investigation, some of the money allegedly stolen by Worthy was derived from a donation to SF SAFE made by an individual with a professional relationship with Jenkins. Out of an abundance of caution, the district attorney recused herself from the investigation and potential prosecution in February, prosecutors said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the DA's office Public Integrity Task Force tip line at 628-652-4444.