Sheryl Davis, the former head of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission facing 17 felony counts and two misdemeanors for allegedly misappropriating city funds and failing to disclose a conflict of interest, postponed her arraignment on Thursday afternoon.
She plans to plead not guilty on May 6.
The postponement of Davis’ arraignment comes one day after James Spingola, a nonprofit director accused of aiding and abetting Davis, postponed his preliminary trial until the same date.
Davis today entered the Hall of Justice flanked by criminal defense attorney Tony Brass and Kevin Ortiz, the former president of the Latino Democratic Club.
Ortiz resigned from the club after being accused of sexual assault. He denied the accusations and was never charged. Ortiz is representing Davis as a paralegal for the law firm Quadra & Coll, which is handling Davis’ civil cases.
Davis and Spingola, who is facing four felony charges, surrendered on a warrant for their arrest on Monday morning. Hours later, Davis was released from jail after she paid her bond of $50,000.
Spingola was released from jail without bond on Wednesday afternoon on the promise that he return to court next month.
A series of probes into the Human Rights Commission, beginning in September 2024, revealed extravagant purchases made by both the commission and Spingola’s nonprofit using public dollars.
Investigations also unearthed that Davis had failed to disclose to the department that she and Spingola shared a home, a vehicle and multiple bank accounts.
Spingola’s nonprofit, Collective Impact, received over $4 million from the Human Rights Commission’s Dream Keeper Initiative, and had paid for several expenses on behalf of Davis, including for her son’s graduate school tuition to the University of California, Los Angeles, and for the promotion of Davis’ children’s book and podcast.
Former Mayor London Breed asked Davis to resign from her post in September 2024. She has since faced several investigations into her spending, including by the City Attorney’s office, and for the past 18 months, by the District Attorney.
The City Attorney’s office has alleged that the Human Rights Commission misspent approximately $4.6 million on “prohibited purchases,” including gift cards, Apple products and sports tickets, during Davis’ tenure.
Outside of the courthouse, with Ortiz at his side, Brass told reporters that Davis was only interviewed by the Ethics Commission “several weeks ago,” and, prior to that, was not asked to do any interviews throughout the investigation.
“She has Fifth Amendment rights,” said Brass. “Why would you still try to get more information from her on the eve before charges are filed?” he asked. “My question is, what’s changed now?”
Davis left the courthouse closely followed by a throng of supporters who attempted to block her from photographers. One of those supporters was Spingola, clad in a balaclava and an N-95 mask. Spingola, released yesterday from jail, flipped off a San Francisco Chronicle photographer before escorting Davis to a waiting vehicle.
Following her resignation in May 2025, Davis told Mission Local that the city’s allegations are “mostly false” and that any misspent funds were likely a “mistake.”
She described her relationship with Spingola as “not black and white,” but argued that it was “widely known” by her department, and she didn’t understand she needed to report it to city authorities to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
The City Attorney’s office has stated that Davis and Spingola’s relationship was not universally known, and that Davis had undergone several ethics trainings which state that city employees are required to report personal relationships that could pose a conflict of interest.
Davis has referred to herself as a “scapegoat” for the dismantling of the Human Rights Commission, which rewards grant funding to predominantly Black nonprofits across the city.
The commission’s funding has since been halved, and the body been merged with the Department on the Status of Women, whose ex-chief has also been accused of misspending city funds.
Brass, when asked if he believed the investigation into Davis’ department was politically motivated, answered “How could I not?”
Sheryl Davis and the Dreamkeeper Initiative are the tip of the tip of the iceberg of fraud, corruption, and abuse within California’s nonprofit sector.
And the so-called low-information voters who think they are “progressives,” won’t bother to challenge this crisis of governance. Because they’ve been conditioned to think opaque orgs with feel-good names are substitutes for legit state capacity,
Is she really that dumb? Davis is a grad from USF public administration program. Did she miss classes on ethics, conflict of interest, and financial management? USF also recently conferred Davis with an honorary doctorate, whatever that means now. She should have engaged a professional accounting firm to consult and provide guidance for setting up accounting procedures and controls, instead she spent tax payer money on herself and her son. Her $300k salary authorized her to secure fiscal oversight Do NOT say this is all because she’s black.
Please. The motivation for the charges is that you stole taxpayer money for corrupt personal purposes.
She should just cop a plea and get her too-short sentence over with, but as usual they’ll string this along as much as possible and clog up the justice system.
Wait:
“asked to resign from her post in September 2024”
“resignation in May 2025”
Something to do with severance/pension?
Smart City Crooks take a powder before things get dicey.
There’s a list of ’em if you’ve been paying attention.
Anyway, a resignation entitles her to board the pension/benefits gravy train.
Unfortunately for her, unlike the aforementioned Smart City Crooks, it ain’t heading for Rancho Relaxo.
On the flip side, the pension money rolling in pays for at least some of the lawyering up.
Prediction:
She’ll slip thru with limited repercussions and sue to keep her pension and benefits.
Remember folks; It’s San Francisco and everything about working for The City revolves around timing an exit strategy for maximum personal benefit and avoidance of any nagging questions about what really happened during your tenure.
The pension/benefits payout for our “retired” grifters is millions (that we citizens pay) by the time they head for the last roundup.
At that point it’s quite possible their kin keep on the dole we provide.
Willie Sutton was wrong.
Banks ain’t where the money is – it’s working for/with the city of San Francisco.
Well, Da Mayor still walks free. Why shouldn’t she?