County officials knew by January 2023 that a top executive for an ex-county contractor now embroiled in a criminal case involving public money previously served time for embezzlement – and still awarded the organization she helped lead a contract worth more than $1 million annually the following year.
Rather than order the Harm Reduction Coalition of San Diego to remove COO Amy Knox from her post as the nonprofit’s finance chief, the county conducted an audit of the organization’s then roughly $1.3 million annual contract. County officials called for more financial controls at the nonprofit, yet it’s unclear what they did to ensure improvements were implemented after the review ended.
In 2024, county staff awarded a second contract to the organization worth more than $1 million annually.
Now Knox faces nine felony charges for allegedly spending public money on everything from plastic surgery to purebred dogs, forging a $102,000 invoice to the county and submitting fraudulent tax forms.
The charges came roughly a decade after Knox served about 18 months in prison for embezzling more than $500,000 from a family member’s business. She later began work for the Harm Reduction Coalition, which distributed an overdose reversal drug and tested street drugs for fentanyl.
Months after the Harm Reduction Coalition got its first county contract, a whistleblower spoke with Christy Carlson, then a compliance officer in the county’s Health and Human Services Agency.
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