00:00Today, I'm announcing charges related to the misappropriation, better described as massive theft,
00:08by an ex-convict of San Diego County grant funds that were supposed to go for reducing fentanyl deaths in
00:16our region.
00:18It's sickening that this fraudster decided to line her own pockets, pay for luxury trips,
00:26cosmetic plastic surgeries, with these precious, potentially life-saving dollars.
00:34It is also deeply concerning that the checks and balances that are supposed to safeguard the county's large budget and
00:45trust funds failed in this case.
00:48The defendant, Amy Knox, is responsible for building the county of public funds.
00:54The defendant has been charged with three felony counts of misappropriating public funds
01:01and three felony counts of embezzlement with the white-collar fraud allegation for great taking.
01:10There were two grants that the county of San Diego awarded to Harm Reduction San Diego
01:18that the defendant was the chief operating officer for.
01:23And these two grants were in the amounts of $5.8 million,
01:29of which the county had already paid $3.68 million.
01:35We cannot, beyond a reasonable doubt at this time,
01:40know fully how much of those millions were compromised by theft.
01:46But we do know through an extensive investigation by my public integrity unit
01:53that at a minimum $132,000 can be directly traced to criminal misappropriation and theft by this defendant.
02:04This theft of county funds was so blatant that the defendant used the Harm Reduction NGO account
02:14to directly pay for the two plastic cosmetic surgeries.
02:20Other stolen money was used to pay for SDG&E bills on her two homes,
02:27and luxury trips to Hawaii and personal credit card bills, even dog training.
02:33Our team's extensive investigation search warrants uncovered this theft piece by piece.
02:41$111.4 million,
02:41$111.5 million or
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