Former SF Human Rights Commission Director Arrested on 17 Felony Charges

When the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families received $3.1 million to distribute to community programs, it did not decide where the money would go. According to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, that decision belonged to Sheryl Davis, and Davis used it to direct $1.5 million to Collective Impact, the nonprofit run by the man she had been living with since 2015.

On Monday morning, Davis, 57, the former executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, surrendered on a warrant and was booked into San Francisco County Jail at 9:57 a.m. James Spingola, 65, the former executive director of Collective Impact and Davis's live-in partner, surrendered alongside her. Both were held on $50,000 bonds.

At noon, Jenkins announced 19 criminal counts against Davis: 17 felonies and two misdemeanors, including felony misappropriation of public funds and felony perjury by certification. Spingola faces four felony counts of aiding and abetting a conflict of interest in four government contracts.

"These are not routine charges," Jenkins said, surrounded by her investigative team. "But I want to be clear: These are allegations that will ultimately be proven or disproven in court."

The charges allege a financial conflict of interest spanning city contracts worth more than $8.5 million. Jenkins said Davis improperly spent funds from her department, accepted prohibited gifts, and failed to disclose them as required by law. The core of the allegation is structural: Davis held public authority over grant decisions while maintaining undisclosed personal and financial ties to the nonprofit receiving those grants.

Davis and Spingola's shared history at Collective Impact predates her government tenure by years. Spingola joined the organization in 2005; Davis served as its executive director before transitioning to city government in 2016, when she became director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Spingola became Collective Impact's executive director after Davis departed in 2019, creating a direct line between her city role and the nonprofit she had previously led.

Jenkins said the personal finances of Davis and Spingola were deeply intertwined throughout the period in question. The two allegedly lived together since 2015, maintained multiple shared bank accounts at two banks, and traveled together, paying for each other's flights and hotel stays. Spingola, Jenkins alleged, wrote monthly rent checks from the account where his Collective Impact salary was deposited, none of which Davis disclosed to city officials responsible for overseeing her grant-making authority.

Jenkins said DCYF staff had no input into the funding choices Davis directed their way. That failure of process was what a prior City Services Auditor review had begun to surface: the audit flagged approximately $4.6 million in questionable expenses suggesting self-dealing before the DA's office launched a formal criminal investigation. The DA's case additionally alleges roughly $350,000 in public funds intended for the Black community was misused.

The arrests capped an escalating probe that grew from those city audits and ethics reviews into what investigators characterized as part of a broader 2024 City Hall corruption scandal. Davis was fired from the Human Rights Commission in 2024 after accusations emerged that she had misused funds and concealed her relationship with Spingola. She had been appointed by former Mayor London Breed to lead the commission and later took on oversight of the city's Dream Keeper initiative. Breed has not been implicated in the case. Spingola exited Collective Impact in October.

Davis's attorney said Monday afternoon that she had been released from custody and planned to plead not guilty at her arraignment Tuesday.

Jenkins was direct about the reach of the case: "We have to make sure that we hold everything accountable. Each and every day we file cases involving street crime, but people have to understand that accountability goes beyond what happens on the streets." The DA's office said the investigation is ongoing.