California domestic violence shelter boss lives in Hawaii where she drives BMW paid for by her employer

DAILYMAIL.COM • 2h ago

By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER 00:41 14 Oct 2026, updated 00:42 14 Oct 2026

The longtime head of a California domestic violence nonprofit has been living in Hawaii for more than a decade while driving a BMW paid for by her employer.

Carol Adelkoff, the CEO and executive director of 1736 Family Crisis Center in the Los Angeles area, has lived in the island state for at least 11 years, according to the LA Times.

The 1736 Family Crisis Center she leads does not maintain any shelters or clients in Hawaii, according to nonprofit records reviewed by the outlet.

Dorsey Kleger–Heine, an attorney for three senior employees of the nonprofit, claimed in December 2019 that gas, repairs, maintenance and insurance for the BMW were also paid for.

Adelkoff, 68, was paid $1.6 million over two years – in 2023 and 2024 – in salary, vacation pay and other compensation.

The center has a $15 million budget, of which about 94 percent is taxpayer–funded through government contracts like federal, county and city grants.

The CEO also enjoyed a luxury beachside apartment in Santa Monica whenever she visited LA County, per the report.

That one–bedroom, 900–square–foot apartment, which cost the nonprofit $6,500 a month, was two blocks from the beach and 11 miles from Adelkoff’s office.

Kerry Garvis Wright, the nonprofit’s attorney, said the center paid for the BMW as part of Adelkoff’s compensation package before she left California in 2002. That continued afterwards.

Adelkoff owns a four–bedroom, roughly 3,700–square–foot home on the Big Island worth about $1.1 million, according to property records.

Wright insisted that Adelkoff ‘performs important agency work, including but not limited to raising money for 1736, overseeing program and business operations, and developing/implementing expansions’ even while not in California.

She also explained that the beachside apartment in Santa Monica assuaged security concerns that Adelkoff had.

It was not clear if the nonprofit continued to pay for that arrangement. There is no accusation of any wrongdoing.

Wright said Adelkoff staying in the apartment was more of a predictable expense for the nonprofit than hotel stays whenever the executive visited LA.

The apartment expense was approved by board members in June 2018, according to emails seen by the outlet. It was labeled a ‘business travel expense,’ per those messages.

Associated costs with the apartment, which Adelkoff picked, included internet and television subscriptions, as well as weekly cleaning, according to reported credit card statements.

That brought the apartment’s total costs to roughly $7,200 per month, the outlet reported.

Because the apartment was a expense and not part of Adelkoff’s compensation, she did not have to pay taxes on it.

Adelkoff has run the 1736 Family Crisis Center since 1984, turning the nonprofit into one of the most important authorities on the response to homelessness in Los Angeles.

The nonprofit, which runs 16 facilities in the LA area, has received at least $25 million from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority since 2021. It runs crisis hotlines, domestic shelters and homelessness programs.

Adelkoff was previously at the center of accusations brought by three of the nonprofit’s senior employees in 2019.

Then, the senior employees hired Kleger–Heine over concerns that the nonprofit was effectively misusing funds because of the perks Adelkoff received while living in Hawaii.

Kleger–Heine made those allegations to the board in December of that year, per the report.

That caused Adelkoff, as well as the chief financial officer, to be placed on leave for several weeks, Kleger–Heine told the outlet.

However, Adelkoff returned to work a few weeks later. The center’s lawyer, Wright, said there ‘no basis’ to put her on leave.

About six months later, the senior employees sued the nonprofit for retaliation and wrongful termination.

Two cases were settled and one was withdrawn, according to reported court records.

Wright, the center’s attorney, told the outlet that Adelkoff had been ‘fully exonerated.’

Adelkoff previously explained her high pay was due to unused vacation time accumulated for more than 40 years.

‘The salary didn’t jump like that,’ she told the LA Times. ‘It was simply a matter of reducing accrued vacation liability on the books and paying it out.’

Adelkoff said she did not have any more accrued vacation to be paid out.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Adelkoff, the 1736 Family Crisis Center and Wright, the nonprofit’s attorney, for comment.

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