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Former San Francisco City HR Manager Faces Felony Forging Charges

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A former human resources manager for the City of San Francisco faces forgery charges for allegedly falsifying documents.

According to District Attorney Chesa Boudin's office, Rebecca Sherman has been charged with two felony counts of forgery over fake documents purporting to settle a lawsuit brought on by an employee who filed an EEO complaint against the city.

"My office will not tolerate those who work in San Francisco's government agencies defrauding the very people they are entrusted to serve," said Boudin said in a statement.

Sherman was the Equal Employment Opportunity manager in the city's Department of Human Resources until she abruptly resigned in September of last year.

Prosecutors said Sherman was assigned to investigate the employee's claims but allegedly failed to do so and repeatedly misled the employee that the city was going to settle the claim in court.

In July, Sherman allegedly created a false settlement agreement between the city and the employee and forged signatures of three city employees, including two attorneys, according to the DA's office.

The worker, who believed the documents were real, asked for some changes to be made. Sherman again allegedly made another false document and forged the same signatures.

Prosecutors said Sherman sent the second false document to the employee in August. The worker then moved to dismiss her lawsuit against the city and learned that the settlement document was a forgery afterward.

"The people who live and work in San Francisco deserve to have confidence that government employees act and communicate in good faith," Boudin said.

According to prosecutors, after Sherman resigned, she admitted in an email to her superiors that she "drafted a document appearing to be a proposed settlement agreement" and provided it to the employee.

Sherman was booked on Tuesday. Her arraignment is scheduled for July 15.

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