Former nonprofit CEO asks to delay arraignment on public fund theft charges

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The former leader of a San Francisco nonprofit accused of misappropriating more than $1.2 million in public funds appeared in court for the first time Tuesday, asking a San Francisco judge to continue her arraignment. 

Gwendolyn Westbrook, 71, the former Chief Executive Officer of the United Council for Human Services, a nonprofit that served homeless and low-income populations, faces nine felony charges, including one count of misappropriation of public funds, three counts of grand theft, one count of presenting a false invoice for payment and four counts of filing false California tax returns.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Simon J. Frankel granted Westbrook’s request, setting a new arraignment date of March 9.

Westbrook was arrested on Feb. 20 and appeared in court out of custody alongside Sylvia Nguyen of the San Francisco Public Defender's Office. San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Warren Ko told the court the city had 45 pages of initial discovery, with an additional 40,000 pages expected to be produced. 

Westbrook declined to comment as she left the courtroom. The San Francisco District Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Prosecutors claim that between 2019 and 2023, Westbrook diverted public funds from UCHS for her own personal use via unauthorized self-payments, improper cash withdrawals and fraudulent reimbursement practices. Prosecutors further claim additional large sums withdrawn from the organization's accounts remain unaccounted for.

In total, prosecutors say Westbrook stole an estimated $91,000 and misappropriated more than $1.2 million in public funds. 

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the charges against Westbrook on Monday, following an investigation from the District Attorney’s Office Public Integrity Task Force. 

Westbrook’s arrest culminates years of investigation into UCHS. The organization, previously known as “Mother Brown’s Dining Room,” grew out of a local woman’s efforts to cook and deliver meals for homeless and low-income families in San Francisco’s Bayview District. The organization later expanded to offer additional services to homeless individuals, including housing and job training. Westbrook was hired in 2003, according to her LinkedIn.

Westbrook’s tenure at the UCHS was plagued by scandal. In 2009, San Francisco announced it would not contract directly with UCHS due to the organization’s “deficiencies in financial recordkeeping,” instead opting to direct a “fiscal sponsor” to help oversee the UCHS’ finances.

In 2015, the City of Richmond shut down a bingo hall UCHS operated for more than four years, citing the organization's failure to submit any financial reports to the city, as well as Westbrook’s criminal history.

Westbrook was previously accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a parking lot owned by the Port of San Francisco in 1997. She pleaded to grand theft and misappropriation of public funds and was sentenced to three years' probation, according to the East Bay Times.

In 2017, the San Francisco City Controller's Office released an audit raising concerns about UCHS’ financial management, concluding UCHS’ fiscal sponsor had “insufficient access” to the organization’s financial records, and that the organization, which received around $1.5 million in federal grant funding through the city, could lose its nonprofit status because of how it was run.

Five years later, in 2022, another audit found “broad noncompliance” by UCHS in determining tenant eligibility, hiring staff, collecting rent and recordkeeping.  At the time, the organization was on its third fiscal sponsor and had close to $28 million in city contracts for housing and support services to formerly homeless individuals. 

The 2022 audit additionally prompted then-city controller Ben Rosenfield and City Attorney David Chiu to ask the district attorney and FBI to investigate the organization, according to reports. The city was reportedly not aware the California Attorney General’s office suspended UCHS’s nonprofit status that summer.

Additionally, former UCHS employee Noel Robinson filed a lawsuit against UCHS and Westbrook in February 2023, accusing Westbrook of “living a lifestyle inconsistent with her reported salary.” 

In the lawsuit, Robinson claimed Westbrook bought herself a new Tesla, as well as multiple new vehicles for family and friends, vacationed in Aruba and paid for family weddings, among other “lavish spending habits.”

Robinson further claimed Westbrook allowed family and friends to move into temporary homes intended for homeless people during the Covid-19 pandemic, rent out the homes for cash and pocket the income. Robinson said when he tried to report the misconduct, he was fired from his job with UCHS and accused of the exact behavior he claimed Westbrook was committing.

A few months later, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing announced it would not allow UCHS to be a subcontractor for six city contracts totaling nearly $10 million, reports say.

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