S.F. city workers charged with bribery, misusing funds

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged two city employees Tuesday with bribery, misuse of public money and financial conflicts of interest in connection with a sprawling investigation into corruption in San Francisco city government.

Lanita Henriquez, 53, director of the city’s Community Challenge Grant Program, and Rudolph Dwayne Jones, 56, a former city employee, were each charged with six counts of bribery, 23 counts of financial conflict of interest in a government contract and one count of misappropriation of public money, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

The felony charges stem from ongoing corruption investigations by the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Task Force and the FBI. The long-running probe into City Hall corruption that has led to indictments, guilty pleas and convictions of more than a dozen city officials, contractors and prominent local business executives. In a statement, Jenkins condemned public officials who “seek to enrich themselves at the public’s expense.”

“The public funds allocated to the city’s Community Challenge Grant Program are intended to benefit the communities of our city — not to line the pockets of government officials,” Jenkins said.

Since 1991 the grant program has contributed $30 million to local nonprofits, schools and community groups for neighborhood improvement projects that have included murals, park upgrades and trash collection, according to city officials.

Henriquez and Jones misused public money from July 2016 to July 2020, according to the district attorney’s criminal complaint.

Prosecutors allege that Henriquez, acting on the city’s behalf, entered into $1.4 million worth of contracts with Jones’ company over that four-year period. Leading up to and during these contracts, prosecutors allege that Jones and his associates paid Henriquez about $215,000.

Henriquez allegedly received dozens of payments during the four-year period when, in her capacity as director of the grant program, she issued 23 contracts to Jones for projects in which she had financial interests, prosecutors said.

Agents arrested Henriquez on Tuesday, according to the district attorney’s office. An arrest warrant for Jones has been issued, but he had not been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors said.