San Francisco DA Boudin Charges Former Public Health Official In Widening Corruption Case
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Thursday announced that a former official with the San Francisco Department of Public Health has been charged for helping arrange a DPH contract that netted her husband a $65,000 commission.
Heather Zalatimo, 45, a former chief information security officer at DPH, has been arrested and was arraigned Thursday in court on two counts of violating a government code. She pleaded not guilty and is to appear in court again on Nov. 12.
According to prosecutors, in 2016 Zalatimo, then working as the Manager of IT Operations at DPH, advocated for DPH to purchase more than $1 million worth of cybersecurity products from Fidelis Cybersecurity. Her husband, who worked for the company, was the sales agent responsible for the sale and received a $65,000 commission from it.
Months later, Zalatimo was promoted to chief acting security officer.
"San Franciscans deserve to know that their public servants act purely in San Francisco's best interest, not to line their own pockets," Boudin said in a statement. "When they don't, my office will enforce public integrity laws to hold those public servants accountable for abusing the public's trust."
The city's Department of Public Health did not immediately comment.
