The head of San Francisco’s Community Challenge grant program formally entered a not guilty plea Thursday to 30 felony corruption charges that include misappropriating public funds, bribery and conflict of interest allegations.
Lanita Henriquez, who is on paid administrative leave from her post, is accused of authorizing $1.4 million in city grant contracts to entities controlled by former city official Dwayne Jones.
Her attorney, a deputy public defender, did not comment about the case Thursday. At a news conference after court, however, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins alleged that firms Jones controlled paid Henriquez, her friends and family kickbacks and bribes totaling nearly $200,000 at the time he got 23 separate grant contracts.
Jenkins stressed it was irrelevant whether Jones actually ended up performing the services to the community financed by those grants.
"Whether he was doing the work or not," Jenkins said, "we cannot overlook the fact that in this situation, someone was being awarded San Francisco city contracts because he was paying off a city employee. That is illegal and cannot be tolerated in this city."
Jones is due in court Friday for arraignment on 30 felony charges that also include misappropriation, bribery and conflict of interest allegations.
Jones was the subject of an NBC Bay Area investigation back in 2020, that showed his business netted millions of dollars by helping other companies bid on lucrative contracts with the city.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
