SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday, June 15 that former San Francisco Department of Human Resources manager Rebecca Sherman is being charged with two felony counts of Forgery in violation of California Penal Code section 470(a). The case drew was reported last year which disclosed that Sherman while working in Human Resources for the city falsified documents purporting to settle a lawsuit with an employee who had filed a complaint.
“My office will not tolerate those who work in San Francisco’s government agencies defrauding the very people they are entrusted to serve,” said District Attorney Chesa Boudin. “The people who live and work in San Francisco deserve to have confidence that government employees act and communicate in good faith.”
Court documents noted that Sherman worked as an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) manager in the City’s Department of Human Resources until she resigned on September 11, 2020. After resigning, she admitted in an e-mail to her superiors she “drafted a document appearing to be a proposed settlement agreement” and provided it to a city employee who filed an EEO complaint against the city of San Francisco.
Further investigation revealed that Sherman was assigned to investigate the employee’s claims, but failed to do so and allegedly repeatedly misled the employee about the status of the investigation and the city’s willingness to settle the employee’s claim in court.
In an alleged effort to mislead the employee into believing San Francisco intended to settle her claim, Sherman created a false settlement agreement between the city and the employee, and forged the electronic signatures of three city employees (including two attorneys). She provided the false settlement agreement to the employee in July 2020. The employee believed the agreement to be real and asked for changes to be made and Sherman allegedly forged the same signatures on an amended false settlement agreement, and again sent it to the employee in August.
Under the assumption the settlement agreement was real and binding, the employee moved to dismiss her lawsuit against the city of San Francisco. After doing so, the employee discovered that the settlement agreement was a forgery, which prompted Sherman’s resignation.
The case was investigated by District Attorney Investigators with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, and is being prosecuted by the Office’s Special Prosecutions Unit. Sherman surrendered on June 15, 2021 to be booked and the SFDA’s Office is not seeking her detention. Her arraignment is scheduled for July 15, 2021.
