Court date for ex-Santa Rosa nonprofit director accused of embezzlement rescheduled

The former director of a Santa Rosa nonprofit that provides services to homeless and at-risk youth, who is accused of embezzling more than $50,000 from the agency, had been expected to be arraigned Monday but the hearing in Sonoma County Superior Court had to be rescheduled.

Lisa Fatu, who has been free in lieu of bail since shortly after she was arrested Sept. 29, had been scheduled to enter her plea to the formal charges. But her attorney, Evan Zelig, said the proceedings were continued to Feb. 15* so he could review “the voluminous discovery” evidence he received from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.

He said he could not comment further until he reviewed the police reports and evidence in the case.

Fatu is charged with one count of grand theft involving funds stolen from Social Advocates for Youth, or SAY, between August 2017 and June 2022, according to a criminal complaint filed in October by the District Attorney’s Office.

Authorities believe the former director of youth crisis services took at least $53,000 from the nonprofit where she’d worked for about 20 years.

In a 2019 interview with the North Bay Business Journal, Fatu said she oversaw programs for street outreach, human trafficking prevention and housing placement. At the time, she said she had a budget of $1.4 million.

In July, SAY announced it had discovered “financial irregularities,” which had occurred over a matter of weeks, in programs related to its youth crisis and career services.

According to the Santa Rosa Police Department, Fatu used a SAY credit card for goods and services unrelated to her job. This included furniture purchases and utility bill payments.

Investigators also arrested Fatu’s roommate, Anastacia Matavale, who police said knew about Fatu’s alleged activity and was willingly benefiting from it.

Matavale is not listed in court records and her current status in the case wasn’t immediately available Monday.

*Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct a source error regarding the date Lisa Fatu’s case returns to Sonoma County Superior Court.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi