{"id":248062,"date":"2026-04-02T06:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T06:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/248062\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T06:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T06:34:09","slug":"s-f-nonprofit-exec-charged-as-accomplice-out-of-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/248062\/","title":{"rendered":"S.F. nonprofit exec, charged as accomplice, out of jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Spingola, the nonprofit director charged with four felonies for purportedly aiding and abetting former Human Rights Commission head Sheryl Davis, was released from jail on Wednesday on the promise that he return to court next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis, who was arrested on Monday,<\/a> is being charged with 17 felonies for misappropriating public funds<\/a> for her personal business ventures and her son\u2019s tuition and failing to disclose that she and Spingola shared a vehicle and a home<\/a>. Spingola\u2019s nonprofit, Collective Impact, received over $1 million from the Human Rights Commission during Davis\u2019 tenure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a brief but charged appearance before the judge and Assistant District Attorney Erin Loback, Spingola\u2019s lawyer, Randy Knox, advocated for his immediate release without bond. Davis was released on $50,000 bond on Monday afternoon, but Spingola has been in custody since he and Davis surrendered on their warrants on Monday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has no recent criminal record,\u201d said Knox to the District Attorney\u2019s team and the presiding judge. \u201cThis man is not a danger to the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Behind Knox and Spingola, who sat quietly in an orange sweatsuit next to Knox, over a dozen people crowded into the few rows of observation chairs, some spilling out into the courtroom. Spingola, who entered through the back entrance of the courtroom from the jail, nodded in recognition to the crowd, flashing a thumbs down sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AJames Spingola of Collective Impact and Sheryl Davis, the former head of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.<\/p>\n

At Knox\u2019s cue, the crowd of observers stood in unison. \u201cAll these people have come to show support today,\u201d announced Knox.<\/p>\n

Both the District Attorney\u2019s team and the presiding judge said they had no objection to Spingola\u2019s release, and ordered him to return to the courtroom on May 6.<\/p>\n

At that, Spingola\u2019s supporters burst into cheers, some holding clasped fists in the air. Others slapped each other on the back. Some had traveled in caravans from Bayview-Hunters Point, and others from the Fillmore, where Spingola runs the Ella Hill Hutch Center, a community center that serves predominantly Black youth and families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of those supporters was Margaret Brodkin, the former director of the Department of Children, Youth and their Families. \u201cThis is a travesty,\u201d said Brodkin, adding that she has worked with Spingola and Davis for nearly a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a letter Bodkin distributed to reporters outside the courthouse, she writes, \u201cJames Spingola and Sheryl Davis are two of the most dedicated and skilled service providers, program developers and community leaders in the city in many decades. Treating them like criminals is itself a crime.\u201d Brokin argues that the September 2025 audit<\/a> of Davis\u2019 department, which played a key role in their being arrested and charged, was \u201cflawed and distorted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AObservers crowd outside the courthouse before James Spingola\u2019s arraignment hearing on April 1, 2026. Photo by Marina Newman. <\/p>\n

In September of 2024, reporting on Davis\u2019 spending<\/a> found that Davis had spent more than $10,000 in city funds on a rental in Martha\u2019s Vineyard and that she shared a home and a vehicle with Spingola, without disclosing this as a potential conflict of interest. Davis resigned from her post and has been a subject of investigation ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The audit, which was conducted by the controller and the city attorney\u2019s office found that Davis misused approximately $4.6 million in city funds<\/a>. Many of Davis\u2019 expenses, including her son\u2019s graduate school tuition and for her business ventures, such as promoting her children\u2019s book, were funded by Collective Impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis is scheduled to face charges on April 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Spingola, the nonprofit director charged with four felonies for purportedly aiding and abetting former Human Rights Commission…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7359,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-248062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-district-attorney","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}