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San Mateo sheriff denies investigator’s allegations, refuses to step down


San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, from left to right, Noelia Corzo, David J. Canepa, and Dave Pine San Mateo County listen to Sheriff Christina Corpus as she makes a brief statement during public comment followed at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors special meeting in Redwood City, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. The County Supervisors were considering seeking Sheriff Christina Corpus's resignation. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus has vehemently denied accusations leveled in a scathing independent investigator’s report alleging the county’s first Latina sheriff had an inappropriate relationship with her chief of staff, retaliated against officers and employees and used racist and homophobic slurs in the workplace.

Corpus pushed back against claims made in the 400-plus page report, assailing it as defamatory and politically motivated, and vowing to fight what she described as a corrupt “good old boys” network in the county.

On Wednesday, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to hold a vote over whether to call for Corpus’ resignation over the allegations in the report, which was authored by LaDoris Cordell, a retired Santa Clara County judge and well-known independent police auditor. Two supervisors, Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller had already called for her to step down.

San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, from left to right, Noelia Corzo, David J. Canepa, and Dave Pine San Mateo County listen to Sheriff Christina Corpus as she makes a brief statement during public comment followed at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors special meeting in Redwood City, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. The County Supervisors were considering seeking Sheriff Christina Corpus’s resignation. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

After public comment at the Wednesday meeting, during which many speakers had called for her resignation, an emotional Corpus addressed the supervisors, with her chief of staff, Victor Aenlle, sitting behind her.

“What has happened here over the past two days is disgusting. The inquiry was politically motivated, one-sided, and filled with lies,” she said. “That is why, effective immediately, I am appointing Dr. Victor Aenlle as assistant sheriff. I am the sheriff of this county, elected by the people of San Mateo County, and I will not be bullied.”

Her announcement elicited gasps and stunned expressions from both the audience and the county board. Declining to take questions, she walked out with Aenlle by her side. As she moved toward the exit, Mueller called after her, asking if she would submit her sworn testimony to Cordell. Corpus refused, saying, “I will not be bullied by you. I will testify when I have legal representation.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the union representing the department’s rank-and-file officers, whose complaints to county officials triggered the report, asserted that their recent public criticism of Corpus only had to do with her job performance.

“We condemn Sheriff Corpus’ failure to lead this agency in a professional manner,” said Eliot Storch, a member of the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

The investigator’s report also recommended the Sheriff’s Office fire Aenlle, with whom Cordell alleges Corpus had an “intimate relationship” that violated agency policy and created a severe conflict of interest.

The report further alleges the relationship led Corpus to “relinquish control” of the agency to Aenlle — whom Cordell described as having “far more experience” as a real estate broker than he has in law enforcement — while fostering an environment of “lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority.”

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Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment

      

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