SAN JOSE — A longtime executive for a nonprofit founded to assist injured San Jose police officers and their families is now the subject of an arrest warrant on allegations she embezzled tens of thousands of dollars as the organization ran deficits for the past several years.

The San Jose Police Department quietly posted an announcement on its website Monday stating that detectives were investigating Margie Thompson, chief financial officer of the Keith Kelley Club, after a volunteer alerted police in March to alleged discrepancies in the nonprofit’s financial records.

Thompson is the nonprofit’s sole paid employee — earning about $42,000 in 2024, double her 2020 compensation — and has held titles including treasurer and office manager over more than 20 years with the organization, according to tax filings.

The Keith Kelley Club has a 501(c)(4) designation, meaning that donor contributions are not tax deductible, but the organization is allowed to engage in political activity. The rest of the organization’s leadership is composed of San Jose police officers who serve on an unpaid basis, the tax filings show.

Police said the SJPD Financial Crimes Unit found evidence showing that between January 2020 and January 2025, Thompson siphoned away about $43,000 from the nonprofit. Detectives secured a warrant for Thompson’s arrest, police said. The department declined further comment, citing that “the investigation is active and ongoing.”

Thompson could not be immediately reached by this news organization, and it was unclear Tuesday if Thompson had retained an attorney.

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Tax filings show that 2020 was the most recent year when the Keith Kelley Club operated in the black, posting a net income of nearly $74,000. Every year since then, filings show the organization drew on its reserves after posting deficits of approximately $37,000, $42,000, $4,600 and $10,000 while contributions were relatively steady, averaging around $114,000 annually.

In that same period, the group’s listed assets shrank from about $123,000 in 2020 to about $29,000 in 2024. It should be noted that during the last non-deficit year 2020, which coincides with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group’s expenses — at least part of which had to be from supporting officers — were one-fifth of the average $141,000 spent in each year since.

Keith Webster Kelley was a San Jose police officer when he enlisted with the U.S. Navy to serve in World War II. He was presumed dead after his ship, the USS Hull, sank amid a typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944, eight months before the end of the war. The nonprofit was formed in his name by San Jose police detectives, with the aim of helping injured officers and the families of officers who have died.