The former head of a San Francisco homeless-help nonprofit has been arrested on charges of pocketing public funds and throwing lavish parties, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.
Kayla Worthy, former executive director of the now-defunct San Francisco Safety and Awareness Organization (SAFE), was arrested Tuesday on charges she misappropriated $700,000 in donations and public funds over a six-year period, using them to buy lavish parties and gifts and depositing them into her own bank account. according to Worthy now faces 34 felony charges of embezzlement, wage theft and misappropriation of public funds, according to a press release from the District Attorney's Office.
“Mr. Worthy's theft and mismanagement caused the 48-year-old charity to lose its assets and cease operations in January 2024,” San Francisco prosecutors said. Said San Francisco Chronicle. (Related article: San Francisco mayor tries to tackle city's drug crisis by encouraging residents to quit drinking)
According to a press release, 24 of the 34 charges are for wage theft between September 2023 and January 2024. Other charges include misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, failure to pay tax withholding and “check kiting,” in which Worthy allegedly wrote checks on SF SAFE bank accounts when there was not enough money in the account.
A homeless man pitches a tent on a sidewalk under a freeway overpass in San Francisco, California, on January 25, 2010. In his recent State of the City address, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom unveiled an ambitious plan to reduce the city's homeless population by one-third and its street population by half by the end of his term in two years. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
One of the big expenses was an event titled “Candy Explosion,” which cost a total of $100,000, according to a press release, including $20,000 for desserts, $19,000 for a petting zoo, face painting and jump houses, $20,000 for an event planner, and $7,000 for “mobile luxury restrooms.” Worthy also threw a holiday party for SF SAFE, spending $6,000 on an event planner and $50,000 on catering, and the event featured champagne, an open bar and a prime rib carving station.
According to the press release, Worthy spent more than $350,000 of SF SAFE funds on luxury gift boxes in 2022 and 2023. These expenses were made despite SF SAFE bleeding funds and not paying employee taxes.
This isn't the first California homeless nonprofit to fall victim to alleged misuse of funds: Gwendolyn Westbrook, president of the United Council of Human Services, was sued in 2023 for misusing public funds to line her own pockets. according to Despite the nonprofit reporting that Westbrook had not reported a salary in 2022, she managed to buy a new Tesla, take a vacation to the island of Aruba and buy cars for family and friends, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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