In recent years, employees at the county’s Edgemoor skilled nursing facility have been plagued by racial tension, sexual harassment and sex tapes. Then county behavioral health officials last year promoted an administrative analyst who worked elsewhere in the department just months after an investigation found she made a racist comment during an online diversity training.
Yet top county officials claim they only learned the “specific details” of the incidents after Voice of San Diego took the county to court to force the release of misconduct records. County officials responded by firing the county’s behavioral health services director effective Tuesday.
Now former director Nadia Privara is considering her legal options against the county.
Records obtained by Voice after a more than year-long court fight for employee misconduct records in the county’s Behavioral Health Services Department spotlight significant cultural issues at its skilled nursing facility serving people with complex medical conditions, plus scandals over sex tapes and a supervisor who stole food for his own use. They also reveal two instances of substantiated sexual harassment at the county’s psychiatric hospital and an investigation into the staffer who allegedly made racist comments. She was promoted months later.
In a late Tuesday statement, county Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton and the county didn’t detail the allegations, investigations or any actions by Privara that may have instigated her departure. Shelton simply alluded to the substance of employee complaints, noting that “racism and sexism are absolutely unacceptable.”
In that same statement, county spokesperson Tammy Glenn wrote that county executives had “called for a closer examination of processes to strengthen expectations around decision-making, accountability and leadership conduct” and then decided Privara needed to go. Glenn said her last day at the county was Tuesday and that longtime county official Jennifer Bransford-Koons will temporarily lead the agency while the county prepares to search for a permanent director.
Privara took over as acting behavioral health director last April after former director Luke Bergmann’s departure – long after all but one of the investigations Voice obtained were completed. The appointment for Privara, who had previously served as an assistant director, became permanent in January. That means Bergmann, who didn’t respond to messages from Voice this week, was at the helm when nearly all the investigations were completed.
The county won’t say whether Privara signed off on the late 2025 promotion of the employee accused of racist comments or discipline associated with any of the complaints. This was also the only investigation that wrapped up during Privara’s time leading the department.
Now Privara is grappling with the end of a more than 20-year career at the county, including 12 years in the Behavioral Health Services Department.
“I’m completely devastated and shocked by the county’s decision to terminate my employment and the manner in which they did it,” Privara wrote in a statement. “I am reviewing the matter with legal counsel.”
Privara also said she has never condoned sexual harassment or racism and “prioritized creating a culture of belonging, safety, and equity” during her time as a county leader.
An attorney representing Privara said she wouldn’t be commenting further on Thursday.
The county announced Privara’s departure a week after supervisors were briefed behind closed doors on Voice’s records case. The Aug. 18 briefing came weeks after Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Braner ordered the county to release the records.
The county issued its statement on Privara’s departure and its reform efforts at the same time it released the records to Voice.
County spokesperson Tim McClain said Wednesday that county leadership only recently learned of the specific details of those cases because most county personnel decisions, including discipline and promotions, fall to department heads rather than county executives.
McClain said county leaders have been working to address this.
“That structure is part of why not every personnel or HR matter was historically elevated beyond the department level for review,” McClain wrote. “The county has since been working to consolidate administrative functions, including HR, finance, communications and technology, and to strengthen oversight so issues like these are identified and addressed sooner.”
McClain said the county is also reviewing hiring practices to “ensure they reflect our values including equity and integrity in addition to professional skills and expertise.”
In response to a series of questions about eight misconduct allegations substantiated by county investigators, McClain declined to describe discipline or actions the county took to address them, citing confidential personnel issues.
“These matters span multiple years and involve different individuals and different circumstances. What is consistent is that allegations were investigated and addressed through established county processes,” McClain wrote.” The substantiated findings do not represent the county’s values and culture to do the right thing with integrity while supporting equity and belonging.”
McClain acknowledged that “change and transition have taken place” in recent years at the county psychiatric hospital and Edgemoor, where most of the substantiated complaints were reported. He did not describe specific changes.
Here’s what those records and more reporting from Voice revealed:
Hostility and Dysfunction at Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility
Edgemoor is a 192-bed facility in Santee that provides around-the-clock residential care to people with complex medical needs, many of whom have behavioral health conditions.
- A fall 2023 investigation by the county’s Office of Ethics and Compliance found that at least one unidentified Edgemoor staffer, whose name was redacted, used offensive terms and phrases to refer to Black people. The employee denied having a racist intent but acknowledged using the word “Negra,” the Spanish word for Black, and acknowledged she may have referred to Black people who frustrated her on the job as “fucking Negras.” The employee who reported the issues said that several housekeepers at Edgemoor used derogatory language to refer to Black patients and workers. She also reported that her department was plagued by “clashing personalities,” gossip and “(staff) not working to help each other.”
- Another investigation that began in fall 2023 concluded that an unidentified Edgemoor employee, whose name was redacted, showed multiple fellow employees sexual images and a 2021 video depicting him and a female coworker. The female coworker said she had learned her colleagues saw photos and a video of her naked. Records released to Voice also describe a second sex video the unidentified county employee shared but do not fully clarify if that video depicted another sexual partner who worked at the county.
- In April 2024, county investigators concluded that an unidentified Edgemoor food services supervisor stole food items. One fellow employee noticed 22 high-end frozen meat items valued at about $1,100 missing while another noted an invoice that included an extra bag of charcoal beyond the two bags. Both the meat and the charcoal had been ordered for county events. The investigation noted the supervisor – whose name was redacted – was terminated, though it’s unclear whether his departure was linked with this misconduct. When asked whether the county reported this issue to law enforcement, McClain wrote that the county is “not able to discuss confidential personnel issues.”
- In summer 2024, an Edgemoor manager reported that an employee had brought him a sex tape that another colleague, a senior housekeeper, had been storing in a facility locker. That employee said the housekeeper, whose name was redacted, asked him to store it in his locker and told his boss he thought the videos might depict events at the facility. He also said he had repeatedly tried to return the tape to the senior housekeeper. The video showed footage of the housekeeper and an unidentified woman engaging in sex acts. The senior housekeeper apparently retired after being placed on administrative leave for another matter.
- In summer 2024, another county investigation found that an unidentified senior housekeeper, whose name was redacted, began massaging an unidentified secretary’s back and then cracked her neck, hugged her to crack her back, held her shoulders and fingers and hugged her “in the front” to try to crack her back again.
A Promotion After an Alleged Racist Comment
County investigators concluded in May 2025 that an administrative analyst who was unmuted during a county-sponsored cultural responsiveness training that February attended by about 75 attendees allegedly exclaimed “I thought this wasn’t going to be political, but what do you expect when it’s taught by a bunch of Black people.”
According to the county investigation, the official was immediately removed from the training. She later said she meant for her comments to be directed to her mother, who was at home with her at the time, and denied making the specific statement reported by others in the training. She claimed she was simply making an observation that the presenters were Black and that the class was political. She also told an investigator that she has friends and family who are Black and did not mean to be derogatory.
McClain declined to comment on what steps the county took to discipline the employee and when but confirmed she was promoted after the incident and remains on the job.
The employee’s LinkedIn account, which has since been deleted, stated as of Tuesday that she became a program coordinator in October 2025, about five months after the county concluded its investigation.
McClain said county program coordinators help implement and manage programs but didn’t clarify which program she oversees – or if she supervises other employees.
An attorney representing the now-county program coordinator declined to comment on Wednesday.
Sexual Harassment at San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital
- County investigators concluded in September 2023 that an Allied Universal security guard assigned to the county psychiatric hospital often looked for a hospital employee she once dated at work during her patrols and followed her. The investigation also found that both “shared their personal text messages and created an unhealthy environment for not just themselves but other staff they involved in the situation.” The county redacted their names.
- An early 2024 investigation found that a housekeeper whose name was redacted sexually harassed a psychiatric nurse when he “made comments about her workout routine, gave her an unwanted gift basket, approached her for a hug for the gift basket and interrupted her work duties while she provided patient care.”