The San Francisco district attorney’s office has dropped all charges against a former employee of the Edgewood Center for Children and Families who was accused of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl staying at the facility. The center serves vulnerable children and teenagers struggling with mental health issues.

Prosecutors had alleged last year that Kenneth Ofigho of Bay Point entered the girl’s room and inappropriately touched her multiple times one night in April. He pleaded not guilty to five counts of committing lewd acts on a minor — all of which were dropped on Thursday.

“Mr. Ofigho has been living a nightmare for almost a year and, unfortunately, he will suffer the professional ramifications of these false allegations for years to come despite his innocence,” said Deputy Public Defender Sylvia Nguyen, who represented Ofigho.

In a statement, the San Francisco public defender’s office said the charges were dropped after a review of the evidence against Ofigho yielded no DNA to corroborate the allegations and a witness present on the night of the incident contradicted the allegations.

“Upon reviewing new evidence obtained in the case, we are unable to proceed. We are unable to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt,” a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said in a statement to The Chronicle.

The allegations, documented by state licensing officials, prompted Edgewood to fire Ofigho. Edgewood officials helped the girl’s family file a police report, and Ofigho surrendered to authorities in September.

Ofigho was one of two men accused of inappropriately touching minors in separate incidents at Edgewood. The other man, Graham Bessermin, was arrested by the Morgan Hill Police Department for possession of child pornography and communicating with a minor for sex last May. Bessermin has not been charged with a crime in San Francisco.

The incidents have left the long-standing institution reeling in recent months: San Francisco’s Public Health Department and Human Services Agency, which have long relied on Edgewood for help in caring for the city’s most troubled children and families, stopped referring children to three of the organization’s programs after the state released the results of its investigation into the alleged incidents in mid-August.

The city ordinarily refers hundreds of children each year to Edgewood for a variety of behavioral health services and programs, but has made a number of demands for reform before resuming referrals.

Edgewood faced a similar set of mandates from the state Department of Social Services, and the facility has completed nearly all of them, a spokesman for the state agency said.

Edgewood CEO Lynn Dolce could not be reached for comment Friday.

Edgewood is in a financial tailspin brought on in part by the freeze placed on city referrals. Recently, the city agreed to give Edgewood a $350,000 grant meant to keep the institution afloat while it works on the city’s remediation plan.

Nguyen, Ofigho’s attorney, said in a statement that even though her client had been cleared of all charges, the damage to his life and livelihood will be long-lasting.

“The presumption of innocence failed Mr. Ofigho from the start. Since these accusations were made, he was taken to jail, later placed on house arrest, lost his job, and was publicly humiliated by having his name and picture circulated in the news media,” she said.

“Thanks to our team’s relentless investigation and persistence in seeking the truth, he has been vindicated and is finally free to move forward with his life.”

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa