A longtime East Portland community leader has been accused of defrauding a neighborhood nonprofit of more than $10,000.
A Multnomah County grand jury indicted Arlene Kimura, 79, on Jan. 31 on 10 felony charges and four misdemeanors, ranging from aggravated theft to falsifying business records. Kimura is accused of stealing money from East Portland Neighbors, a nonprofit that oversees community programs and neighborhood grants. Kimura is listed as the organization’s treasurer in its most recent tax filing.
Arlene Kimura, right, receives a Spirit of Portland award from Sam Adams, Nov. 15, 2012.
Image via Team Sam Adams/Flickr
Kimura has spent more than 30 years advocating for East Portland in a variety of volunteer roles, from sitting on numerous citizen advisory boards to chairing the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association. Kimura also helped establish the East Portland Action Plan and Gateway Urban Renewal plan, two programs that focused on infrastructure investments and development projects in East Portland neighborhoods.
Most recently, Kimura sat on the 2023 committee that proposed the geographic boundaries of the city’s four new districts.
She’s won multiple awards for her community involvement, including a Spirit of Portland award from the city in 2012 and a Gladys McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award from Multnomah County in 2017. In a county news release about the 2017 award, a Portland city employee praised Kimura’s work.
“[Kimura] cares deeply for those who have least access to resources,” the city official said in the release. “She’s humble. She doesn’t often want to say much about herself.”
The indictment outlining Kimura’s charges offers scant details. The charges include allegations of Kimura taking more than $10,000 belonging to East Portland Neighbors, writing a bad check on behalf of the nonprofit, and falsifying business records related to the organization.
‘No longer actively involved in community issues’
The various felony theft and misdemeanor charges span a nearly two-year time frame, from February 2022 to December 2023. Per the indictment, the counts include “two or more acts and transactions connected together.”
The county hopes to sentence Kimura beyond the maximum limits. In a document filed Feb. 6, Deputy District Attorney Alec Hess alerted the court that, if Kimura is found guilty, he intends to propose a sentence that exceeds the timeline set by the state’s sentencing guidelines. His reasoning is because the charges violate public trust and inflict loss “greater than usual.”
There is a warrant out for Kimura’s arrest. According to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, an investigator contacted her after the indictment and explained how to turn herself in. She has not yet done so.
Kimura did not immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment on the charges. In a recent email to OPB unrelated to the indictment, Kimura wrote that she is “no longer actively involved in community issues.”
Kimura stepped down from the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association late last year, according to association treasurer Bob Earnest.
According to the Secretary of State’s database, East Portland Neighbors is no longer an active nonprofit.
The Jan. 31 indictment came just a week after the city released an audit on its relationship with East Portland Neighbors. The city’s Office of Community and Civic Life previously partnered with the nonprofit to administer grants and insurance coverage for neighborhood associations that East Portland Neighbors worked with.
In 2022, Civic Life discovered the nonprofit hadn’t been paying for needed liability insurance, despite the city offering $30,000 to reimburse the cost. The audit found that Civic Life spent nearly $44,000 total to help resolve the nonprofit’s lapsed insurance payments — over $13,000 than it had budgeted for. The auditor’s office scolded the bureau for not terminating the grant agreement with East Portland Neighbors despite knowing of these funding issues.
The auditor’s office began its investigation into this partnership after a member of an unnamed neighborhood association reported in October 2023 about receiving a check from East Portland Neighbors that bounced.
