Gwendolyn Westbrook, the former chief executive of a San Francisco nonprofit once linked to a shuttered Richmond bingo hall, was charged this week with stealing and misappropriating more than $1.2 million in public funds, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced Monday.
Westbrook, the former CEO of San Francisco-based United Council for Human Services, faces nine felony charges, including misappropriation of public funds, three counts of grand theft, presenting a false invoice for payment, and four counts of filing false California tax returns for tax years 2020 through 2023.
Richmond residents may remember UCHS as the San Francisco nonprofit that operated Marina Bay Bingo Hall before city officials shut it down in November 2015. Authorities later acknowledged the hall had operated for years without required financial reports, audits, background checks, or verification that it met California’s nonprofit bingo laws. The closure followed mounting concerns about regulatory failures, alleged unauthorized gambling activities, and the criminal histories of some operators…