The former director of the SFPD’s now-dissolved nonprofit SF SAFE was arrested Tuesday on 34 felony counts, after reports of profligate misspending of public money on lavish parties, forged checks, and possibly her own rent. But did city officials get some of these gifts too?

It is very ironic, though maybe not surprising, that the most scandal-plagued and allegedly lawbreaking nonprofit in San Francisco might be the one funded directly by the SF Police Department. Yet this appeared to perhaps be the case when news broke in January that the “crime prevention component of the police department,” a nonprofit called SF SAFE, had misspent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on luxury gift boxes, limo rides, and trips to Tahoe. As seen below with SFPD Chief Bill Scott at an SF SAFE-funded party, their events were perhaps a little fancier than they needed to be.

Yet the scandal took a bonkers turn a week later. In about a 36-hour span, we also learned that the taxpayer funded SF SAFE was missing millions of dollars, had stiffed the Latino Task Force out of $625,000, and SF SAFE executive director Kyra Worthy was accused of forging the nonprofit’s checks. Worthy was fired, and SF SAFE was disbanded shortly thereafter.

Fast-forward to today, and the Chronicle reports that Worthy has been arrested for the alleged misuse of more than $700,000 in taxpayer money. Per the SF DA’s office, she’s been charged with 34 felony charges of misappropriating public money, submitting fraudulent invoices to the city, theft, wage theft, and check fraud.

“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. “Our investigation revealed evidence showing that Worthy embezzled more than $100,000 of SF SAFE funds, with most of the money taken in her first few years at SF SAFE."

While the alleged embezzlement total is around $100,000, the overall accused misuse adds up to the aforementioned $700,000. Mission Local explains the difference, noting that Worthy stands accused of spending “more than $500,000 of public funds to cover SF SAFE’s debts rather than that money’s intended use."

Much of that sum went to way-too-extravagant parties, and Supervisor Catherine Stefani appears to have inadvertently captured this in the tweet above. It sure appears that Stefani’s pictures above show what the DA’s office calls an “SF SAFE holiday party – which was not a fundraiser – for which [Worthy] spent $6,000 on an event planner and nearly $50,000 on catering. The event featured a champagne greeting, open bar, and prime rib carving station.”

And as Mission Local reported in February, SF SAFE also stiffed the florist out of $17,000 for that party’s arrangements.

The DA’s press release on the arrest is seen below. But that press release is missing something that you see in literally every other DA’s office press release. The release does not have a quote from SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins herself. That’s not an accident.

“During the course of this investigation, District Attorney Investigators determined that at least some of the money allegedly stolen by Ms. Worthy was derived from a substantial donation to SF SAFE made by a person with a professional relationship with District Attorney Brooke Jenkins,” the release says. “Accordingly, out of an abundance of caution and to avoid the appearance of impropriety, DA Jenkins recused herself from the investigation and potential prosecution of this matter in February of this year.”

So who is this “person with a professional relationship” with Jenkins? One could fairly believe that it is Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, who donated to put security cameras all over SF. Larsen is also a major Jenkins donor, though it’s not clear whether that would constitute a “professional relationship,” so this may be something about which more information comes out.

But we certainly know that Brooke Jenkins attended many of these fancy events on which SF SAFE spent so extravagantly. The above Facebook post details Jenkins attending a Community Police Advisory Board Symposium, which sounds all-business. These events were not all-business.

The SF City Controller’s January report decried the overspending at an October 2022 CPAB event (the above post is dated November 3, 2022, so maybe the same event?) at which “Each gift box cost $162 and contained items such as Silver Needle Tea, a portfolio, and a mug.” Must have been one hell of a portfolio and mug!

Mission Local details the eye-popping personal expenses Worthy rang up on SF SAFE’s dime, likely what is being described as embezzlement. These include payments to her landord (rent?), Lyft rides to and from her home in Richmond on most business days, meals, and even airline tickets.

“She spent more than $24,000 at Marshall’s,” Mission Local adds.

So now this is bordering on comical, but there’s absolutely nothing funny about how SF SAFE workers are apparently unpaid on about $80,000 in collective back pay. Mission Local also notes that at one point they started getting their payroll payments via Venmo and CashApp, and that Worthy was skirting paying payroll taxes.

With the workers being stiffed a collective $80,000, it will surely irk them that the above October 2023 event “Candy Explosion” set SF SAFE back $98,000 in company funds. The DA’s office alleges this money was spent on “$20,000 for desserts and ice cream; $15,000 for a taco truck; $19,000 for a petting zoo, face painting, bouncy houses, carnival games, and a climbing wall; $20,000 for event planners; and $7,000 for ‘mobile luxury restrooms.’”

Today’s charges and arrest indicate that Worthy acted as a lone wolf, and did all the alleged misspending herself. That may be true. Or it may turn out that others had their hands in the candy jar, too.

Related: SF SAFE Scandal Gets Way Bigger, With Allegations of Check Forgery, and Millions of Dollars Missing [SFist]

Image: San Francisco SAFE, Inc. via Facebook