Unsatisfied with lack of charges against former nonprofit director, Crye takes aim at Shasta’s district attorney
The Anderson Police Department has said it conducted an investigation into former nonprofit director Susan Wilson but did not find enough evidence to charge her with a crime. Supervisor Kevin Crye, who’s publicly accused her of stealing funds from the nonprofit, maintains she’s guilty.
At the May 5 Shasta County Board meeting, all of the supervisors except Kevin Crye were wearing cowboy hats in honor of the Redding Rodeo. The public was riled up. Several community members lambasted Crye, and two other board members, for their recent refusal to censure Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis, after a county investigation found he had threatened his staff.
Meanwhile Crye, who’s said he can’t be sure whether the substantiated investigation findings against Curtis are true since he wasn’t there to see for himself, used his allotted speaking time to accuse someone else of a crime.
“Susan Wilson admitted to taking over $37,000,” Crye said, referring to the former executive director of the nonprofit Youth Options Shasta, which focuses on violence and drug prevention among local youth. Crye, who sits on the board along with other public officials, held up a print-out of a police report for what he alleged was Wilson’s financial malfeasance Speaking definitively, Crye said, “I have a really hard time with people who steal. I have a harder time when they steal from children.”
But evidence to prove that Wilson stole hasn’t been found, according to the Anderson Police Department and the Shasta District Attorney’s Office. Over the next week both agencies made separate public statements clearly articulating they did not find sufficient evidence to charge Wilson with a crime.
APD said investigators combed over years of financial records and other Youth Options documentation, and found that pay raises for employees, including Wilson, were approved by the nonprofit’s board and included in annual budgets. The statement also said that all checks made out to Wilson were signed by other board members or staff members, not Wilson herself. The investigation noted that while board bylaws were not appropriately followed, investigators didn’t find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Wilson broke any laws.
But Crye hasn’t let the matter go, alleging there’s more to the story. In an interview with a reporter last week, Crye contradicted APD’s statement, claiming that private conversations indicate the department had enough evidence to pursue a case against Wilson, and that District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett was the one who didn’t follow up to prosecute the case. Asked why Bridgett would fail to do so, Crye said he couldn’t be sure, calling Bridgett a “terrible manager” and referencing the current exodus of attorneys from her office. Over recent weeks, some of those attorneys have provided video statements for Crye’s campaign opponent, blaming Crye, not Bridgett for their departures.
Bridgett addressed allegations like Crye’s in a broadly-worded statement released by her office shortly after APD’s statement.
“Allegations that decisions in this case …were influenced by political relationships, personal friendships, or community status are offensive, unprofessional and inaccurate,” the press release stated.
The accusations against Wilson gained traction two years ago, when an alternative media source wrote about Wilson, alleging that she had embezzled funds. The story was written by Chriss Street, for a news-style substack called Mountain Top Times. Street’s initial story alleged that Wilson had used her authority to “secretly give herself a series of compensation and faux benefit increases of at least $30,000.” The Mountain Top Times is part of Mountain Top Media, a for-profit media company with significant financial ties to Crye’s political campaigns.
Wilson could not be reached to answer follow-up questions about when she departed the organization — but indicated during an earlier interview that she left the organization voluntarily. A review of Youth Options’ 990s shows her salary listed at about $40,000 in 2023, increasing to $46,000 in 2024 and back down to $40,000 in 2025.
Over two of those years, the nonprofit was also paying a salary to another executive director, the 990s show. Jennifer Coulter, who began at a salary almost double Wilson’s in 2024, was paid $72,000. She moved up to $77,000 in 2025.
Reflecting back on the last several years since accusations of impropriety first began, Wilson said it’s been painful.
“Those two years were difficult for me,” Wilson told Shasta Scout. “I wanted something good for children — and when that was taken away from me because other people didn’t know whether to trust me or not — it just plain hurt.”
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The DA’s Office says: “While the investigation identified violations of the organization’s internal bylaws, those violations do not meet the legal standard for criminal prosecution.”
These kinds of cases are really hard to prosecute, and APD said Wilson was not writing herself checks. It’s a gray one.
Sometimes things are just civil disputes and don’t need to take up any more time of the criminal-justice system even if someone is mad.
More reasons to vote for ErinResner for D1. Let’s bring integrity back to that district
For as long as I have known Susan Wilson, she has been a person of integrity. She has worked as a volunteer for many years for the League of Women Voters, at one time at the state level and has contributed much to the community in Shasta County.
From an article in the Record Searchlight, it almost sounded like the Anderson Police Department was disgusted with all the time they have spent reseraching Crye’s claims, It is unfortunate that Crye can bully others to get his way on different organizations and the Board of Supervisors. The legal fees Shasta County is having to pay and will in the future, to defend lawsuits due to poor actions and decisioins made by Crye and backed up by Kelstrom and Harmon will seriously hurt the county.. Shasta County is also losing many talented aand capable people due to actions by Crye and backed up by Kelstrom and Harmon.
Erin Resner is one woman who is brave enough to challange Crye in the election. I hope the distric will support her.
Surprisingly even Kelstrom grew tired and annoyed of the grandstanding and politicking of KC during the board meeting. He ignored him, he rebuked him for not staying on topic for the current agenda item and the microaggression of his body language spoke volumes. KC`s need to have the last word, his need to call out his critics and chastise behaviors that not only does he do himself, he enjoys to one up his critics and raises the pot by making claims of illegality, contempt for taxpayers on the actions of critics yet decries his actions are to safeguard the public, safeguard the general fund and to support the fantastic employees in county departments. Watching what he does and paying attention to his words is like watching a very bad poker player going all in with a bad hand while playing with house money.
Susan Wilson gave herself a raise and Health Care benefits without it being OKed by the board of directers. She admitted it and the Anderson police dept. thought there was enough evidence so they forwarded to the DA seeking prosecution. The DA sent it back and the whole story changed. Small town Politics? Health Care benefits were not provided the the previous person who held her position and she also received her pay check for months when she was home ill.
So you got all the facts there Nick. Why don’t you and Crye put your big boy pants on and go to court? Hey, I’m sure Jones will help, as MAGA has been on a 5 year attack against the DA, her office and The League of Women Voters. No?
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Oh…. Nothing there; might get tossed to the curb like your friend Hobbs? And like Mr. Pillow’ and the Ajudcated Rapist/Convicted 34 Count Felon’s BIG LIE, proven in local, national, even the Supreme Court, and by our local Grand Jury to be just pure BS.
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Yeah, just Kevin Want To Be King CRYING WOLF, as usual, waiving stacks if paper around (did her learn that from Hobbs?) like it’s some kinda empirical evidence or something, using the office to grandstand and snivel about issues not in his jurisdiction. (Really, Kevin served up a better show with his chemtrail bologna).
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As Shasta County is headed for a MAGA created economic catastrophe, I think the taxpayers are getting getting tired of paying for Crying Out Loud and his Multi Million Dollar Clown Car Circus, as well as Crye’s ROV, Mr. Clint Chaos! We can’t afford the silly clown shows anymore, and we just want a Board of Supervisors and a ROV that puts their nose to the grindstone and does the work of the people for a change without all the sniveling, lies and grandstanding for MAGA.
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Now go fill up that truck Nikki. As the middle class buckles under the weight of Trump’s ” Make Me Rich” economic policies, your Criminal AVATAR, who promised low prices day one, needs your money for his war, Operation Epstein File Cover Up and to build his pompous Liberace on Acid Ballroom.
Thank You Cristian, the guy who won’t stand or recite our country’s Pledge of Allegiance. Someone who took advantage of the educational opportunities provided by our government but probably never worked in the private sector. Someone who I suspect needed government loans, I doubt they were paid back, to even attend a gov. subsidized college and then worked for and retired from gov. employment. Your opinion counts for less than you think.
Nick Gardner
Not only are you living rent free, but you’re also living way outside of the realm called reality.
Isn’t it grand that our Constitution and Bill Of Rights still affords us some freedoms such as personal choice as to one chooses to stand or sit during the Pledge Of Allegiance and/or a prayer. Last I heard, your chosen God had the final
say about judgement. Taking the “h” out of Christian’s name is on par with your version of what it is to be a Patriot. My father was a kind man. He was also a US Marine who fought for our freedoms; the very ones that some treat as some sort of self-aggrandizing smorgasbord. He wore his US Marines hat proudly everywhere he went. My father would have never dreamed of debasing our American flag by wearing it as a t-shirt, cheap swag or flying it on pickup trucks to garner attention for himself. He knew what it meant to be an honorable Patriot; that the freedoms he fought for were for all people, not just a chosen few. Pray, don’t pray. Salute, don’t salute. That was the entire point. Waving a flag means nothing if one is not honoring what it’s supposed to stand for.
Well said.
Okay, Nicki and David, let’s talk Memorial Day. I do take a knee, hand over heart, and bow my head during the pledge, in deep honor of all who have died fighting for democracy. However, MAGA’s leader, a convicted criminal, is quoted in a 2020 report in The Atlantic article, citing many sources that the adjudicated rapist canceled a 2018 visit to an American military cemetery in France, referring to the fallen U.S. troops buried there as “losers” and “suckers”. Former Trump officials, including his former Chief of Staff John Kelly, have publicly corroborated these accounts.
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In fact, in 2023, the convicted criminal publicly suggested that Gen. Mark Milley — a decorated Army general and veteran — had committed “treason” and implied that, “in times gone by,” the punishment would have been death. Recently, Trump said Gen. Mark Kelly, a decorated war hero and astronaut, should be arrested for “sedition, punishable by death.” Additionally, there have been significant cuts to veterans’ services and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during Trump’s administration. But to Nick’s point.
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From a kid to this day, I have done everything from building and painting houses and motels to working as a mason laborer, a ranch farmhand, and an office automation technician, all as a blue-collar worker in the private sector for most of my life.
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Yes, Nicke, I did years of night school, worked toward a master’s degree, served many kids, adults, and families who needed help, and even wrote 5150s at times to ensure they could receive life-saving help, even if they didn’t want it, and worked with criminals in jail. Sometimes clients’ lives were better off because of those services, but not always; problems can be generational, deep, and very complex. And my education was not free; there were no scholarships for me. I borrowed tens of thousands to do so and PAID every friggen penny of it back, with a good deal of interest.
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My suggestion to Nicki is that talk is cheap; it takes money to buy beer. Swinging around allegations, as he and Crye have done with both S. Willison and me, doesn’t do anything but spread BS. Nicki’s good buddy Crye once butted into a conversation I was having with my then-supervisor, Tim Garmon, and told me I’m “just leaching off the system,” shocking both Tim and me. And no, Nicki and or Mr. Crye, I have never filed for bankruptcy, and you have no friggen idea what my financial situation is. So yeah, talk is cheap and usually worthless BS. Doing research and proving your accusations is another matter.
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Both Nicki and Crye seem to think that the Redding or Anderson Police should have filed charges, or that the DA should have done so, just because they say so. You know what, Mr. Detwiler, it just doesn’t work that way. Put up and take accusations to a court of law, or shut the —- up.
Christian Gardinier- you make a valid point that I noted in your comment and it is one I hold in the top five of importance, research and data to back it up. I am all about the evidence and the solutions. However that doesn’t mean accountability can be learned by guilty evasion specialists that just Stonewall anything and everyone with return fire accusations. Among the citizen population far too many people take the surface and move forward without grasping the process or the timeline of how things have progressed. The numbers do not lie and the words rarely count but if you can get a video of a crime that still will not guarantee a conviction if the offices that don’t care just don’t care.
Agree. Good summary.
How does an employee give themselves a raise and health benefits? Non-Profits have board members who must have a meeting & vote on benefit or rate of pay changes. No different than regular for-profit employees cannot give themselves benefits or pay raises without the approval of their boss or the directors/CEO`s/Board members etc. That is what the investigation uncovered, the employee of the non-profit did not give themselves anything & it was the board of directors who approved the benefits and salary change.
If your boss gave a raise, I am sure you would be OK with cashing the checks. Would anticipate a politician to press a local PD to pursue criminal charges against you for cashing the checks?
Does the Anderson community have an upset tax payer over the police department spending tax money investigating a complaint (which is their role) from a county board member who doesn’t represent Anderson but does have an issue Susan`s community standing, topics she has supported and the people she may be aligned with in Shasta County. I’m not a fan of Susan. Lots of right leaning voters talk about government overreach – Here is your sign.
I am not related to Susan Wilson.
This guy’s comments, probably will cost our country money. Susan is a wonderful person that has a big ❤️.
She cares so much for use all !!
Vote this guy OUT!!!
Crye Baby must be hearing footsteps. Hurling wild accusations that have been investigated and debunked is pathetic grandstanding to stir up the MAGA mouthbreathers. We need to do better than this.
Selah
Crye is dirty. He said Monica Fugitt’s investigation into Curtis was a witch hunt and then invents dirt against Wilson and Bridgett. He attacked Bridgett over the Zogg fire distribution of PG&E settlement to a charity lead by Mary Williams He then hid the fact that the Attorney General cleared Bridgett. If that fact had been announced to the public, Crye would have been recalled. Look at the people he’s attacked: Susan Wilson, Stephanie Bridgett, Mary Williams, Monica Fugitt. He’s as creepy as Curtis and Street
Crye keeps being a jerk because no one holds him accountable for his defamation. It’d likely be calming if someone won a judgement against him….
When does it get to the point to where those that are being targeted and having their name(s) drug through the mud by Mr. Crye just say enough is enough and filing lawsuits for defamation? Maybe they are in the works I don’t know but there’s something seriously wrong with Mr. Crye’s mental health in my opinion and he’s getting worse day by day. Thankfully he only has this term to finish out and then he’s gone. In the meantime he’s burning down the county on his way out.