Fired director of police-related nonprofit in San Fran faces 34 felony charges over alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars

The former director of a San Francisco nonprofit was arrested Tuesday and charged with 34 felony charges over her alleged theft and misuse of taxpayer funds, according to a recent press release from the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.

Kyra Worthy, 49, was previously the executive director for SF SAFE, an organization created in 1976 to aid the local police department with crime prevention and public safety services, according to its website. In January, SF SAFE fired Worthy and shut down operations after the director allegedly drained the nonprofit of all of its assets.

'Cheated San Francisco communities out of valuable services ... exploited SF GATE’s employees and nonprofit partners.'

Worthy is facing charges related to “misappropriation of public money, submitting fraudulent invoices to a City department, theft from SF SAFE, wage theft from its employees and failing to pay withheld employee taxes, and writing checks with insufficient funds to defraud a bank,” according to the DA office press release.

“In total, Ms. Worthy is accused of illegally misusing over $700,000 during her tenure with SF SAFE,” the office added.

Despite the organization receiving millions in public and private funding, Worthy’s “theft and mismanagement” caused the nonprofit to lose all of its assets, forcing its closure.

Worthy was accused of using the nonprofit’s funds “for her own use,” including making payments to her landlord and hiring a home healthcare worker for her parents, totaling $98,000.

“The affidavit further details how Ms. Worthy lavishly spent SF SAFE’s funds on parties, events, furniture, interior designers, and travel, even as SF SAFE was running out of money and she had stopped paying employees’ taxes,” the DA’s office stated.

As a result, Worthy was accused of committing $80,000 in wage theft.

In October 2023, Worthy allegedly threw a costly party with SF Safe’s funds. She was accused of spending $20,000 on desserts, $15,000 on a food truck, $20,000 on event planners, $7,000 on “mobile luxury restrooms,” and $19,000 on a petting zoo, carnival games, and other party activities.

Worthy allegedly spent another $56,000 on catering and an event planner for an SF SAFE holiday party. She was also accused of spending $350,000 on “luxury gift boxes” in 2022 and 2023.

A spokesperson for the San Francisco Attorney’s Office stated, “Kyra Worthy not only cheated San Francisco communities out of valuable services, but also exploited SF GATE’s employees and nonprofit partners. We are working diligently to root out this kind of corruption, and we fully support the DA’s actions to ensure accountability.”

San Francisco Police Department told KRON4, “The SFPD thanks the District Attorney’s office for its thorough investigation and diligent work on this case.”

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