Sgt. Kevin Knoble of SFPDs gang task force speaks with Tiffany Vallair, top, and Athena Harven, bottom at the Sunnydale Boys and Girls Club on Thursday, August 23, 2012. Knoble was in the Visitacion Valley area checking on young men on a gang injunct …
SAN FRANCISCO - A Vallejo woman is being charged for allegedly embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a now-defunct nonprofit, federal authorities said.
Athena Harven, a former director of operations of a San Francisco nonprofit that provided academic support and employment assistance to students in the Sunnydale Visitacion Valley neighborhoods, was indicted with four counts of wire fraud for allegedly stealing over $250,000 from the nonprofit for nearly four years, authorities said.
As director of operations, Harven had access to and control over the nonprofit's finances.
Harven allegedly used the funds meant to pay the organization's taxes to shop at several stores, including Victoria's Secret, Forever 21, VIP Luggage & Leather, H&M, and Hollister, and for expenses for a bakery she owned and operated.
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The money was also allegedly used at restaurants, hotels, casinos, travel expenses, rent, utilities, groceries, and gas stations.
Before its collapse, the nonprofit received funding from the City and County of San Francisco and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to authorities.
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The 53-year-old allegedly wrote herself 119 checks from the organization's bank account from April 2015 to December 2018, when the company laid several employees off, including Harven, before it collapsed.
Authorities said Harven was able to pull off the scheme by saying the payee on the checks was her instead of ADP, the nonprofit's payroll processing company.
She allegedly created a fake email to represent as an employee of the California Economic Development Department and "intercepted dozens of communications over several years" from state tax authorities to the nonprofit on the organization's unpaid payroll taxes to allow the fraud to do "undetected."
If convicted, Harven faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine.