Captain quit rather than arrest union leader and sheriff’s critic

Brian Philip, who resigned as a captain from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. Photo from the sheriff office's Instagram page.

A San Mateo County Sheriff’s captain quit his job rather than carry out an order to arrest the head of the deputies union, who is a critic of Sheriff Christina Corpus and her second-in-command, Victor Aenlle.

Deputy Carlos Tapia

On Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Office announced that it had arrested and jailed Deputy Carlos Tapia, head of the deputies union, on two charges relating to time card fraud. Tapia was released on $10,000 bail and is on administrative leave.

Hours before retired Judge LaDoris Cordell was due to release what turned out to be a scathing report about Corpus and Aenlle, Acting Assistant Sheriff of San Mateo County Matthew Fox ordered Sheriff’s Capt. Brian Philip to arrest Tapia. 

The arrest was unusual since it had not been approved by the district attorney and no arrest warrant had been issued. Typically an arrest in a paperwork crime would only happen after a warrant was issued.

Philip decided to resign rather than carry out what he thought was an unlawful arrest.

County Supervisor Ray Mueller confirmed that an officer, who he did not identify, resigned when ordered to arrest Tapia.

Attempts to reach Philip for comment have not been successful.

The arrest raised eyebrows since Tapia, in his capacity as president of the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, had been critical of Sheriff Christina Corpus and her former chief of staff, and now assistant sheriff, Victor Aenlle. Tapia’s union along with the labor group for the sergeants in the county filed a complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board that made various accusations against Corpus and Aenlle. And the two unions passed a resolution of no confidence against Aenlle.

Philip’s name may be familiar to Palo Alto residents because he previously was a lieutenant in the Palo Alto Police Department. His last day with the PAPD was Aug. 7, 2023, a city spokeswoman said.

36 Comments

  1. Philip is a real leader. A true LE professional who cares about others. He resigned, rather than violating someone’s civil rights by carrying out unlawful orders of retaliation for the Sheriff and her BF.

  2. This is an example of a true leader. People decide to follow you because they want to, it cannot be forced. The little dictator demands respect when Mr. Philip has earned it. Hope he comes back to the Office when the scum has been wiped away.

  3. SMCSO just lost ANOTHER ethical professional Law Enforcement Officer because of the UNETHICAL “Sheriff” Corpus and her unqualified criminal side kick Aennle. Shame on her for even putting this man in that position in the first place! Violating a Deputies Civil Rights to lay down retaliatory punishment is egregious and outrageous! Mr. Wagstaffe! Please do your duty and charge Both of these monsters!!!! Vindicate Deputy Tapia!

  4. Here is a man of integrity. He needs to be brought back – along with Ryan Monaghan – as soon as the insane clown posse now running the Sheriff’s Office has been sent packing (and to jail). Tapia’s Civil Rigjts were violated and he was wrongly arrested under color of authority. That could be a Federal case…

  5. I think everyone is missing the most important thing the sheriff(but she shouldn’t be) lied and said the captain quitting was unrelated. False. The captain quit because he is ethical and the scumbags (Fox borat AS Vicky and the victim Latina) would do anything to stay in power. They are the absolute worst human beings in the office. They need to be removed immediately. Like now.

  6. Philip and Corpus were police academy classmates. Philip had the guts to stand up to that d-bag Fox and that stooge Perea that follows her around like a minion.

    Hey Perea, I heard they had party at SF when you left. The rank and file did not respect you. Now I see why…

  7. Brian Philip beats man unnecessarily, incident kept secret by PAPD:

    [No links. Terms of Use violation.]

    Brian Philip who used to work for the Palo Alto Police.
    Brian Philip who along with 3 other PAPD officer falsely detained and and beat a person, (breaking his eye socket/orbital bone), suspected of shop lifting. The person paid for the items thought to be stolen.
    Brian Philip who along with the other officer “forget” to turn on their patrol car recording system pursuant to department policy in order to document encounters with citizens.
    The entire encounter was kept from the public for 3 years and was only made public due to a new police transparency law requiring that the incident be made public. Otherwise we the citizens would have never known what Philip and the other officers did because he along with his ilk do not want the public to see what kind of job he does.

    • Hmm, odd poster left out the person was a suspected drug dealer and was fully uncooperative which never ends well. Anyone can look up and read the real version of what happened nearly 9-years ago. I can say for a fact that Officer Brian Philip is a “stand up guy” and goes “by the book”. Anything else is misinformation IMO.

  8. P.S. I assume Philip retired from the PAPD with his Calpers pension and is, (was), drawing a full time check from San Mateo County.
    Double Dipping.

  9. Absolutely abhorrent what is happening in the SMCSO. I feel sorry for all of the staff, having to endure the worst of humanity at the top. Here’s hoping their dignity can be restored QUICKLY by the removal of these corrupt people.

  10. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

    The United States of America

    V.

    Dan Perea, Frank Dal Porto, William Fogarty, Christina Corpus, Matthew Fox, Victor Aenlle

    Violations
    Title 18 section 241
    Title 18 section 242

  11. What should be a wake up call for all of us is that no sheriff, regardless that he/she is elected by us the people ,needs to have oversight and that oversight board must have the power to remove a corrupt official from office immediately.
    What is happening at The Sheriff’s Office affects public safety. The urgency of this matter should be alarming to all of us.
    Look what is happening …the chaos and proven corruption. And this corrupt shameless Sheriff is still in power? And taxpayers just needs to live with it Until grand jury does a lengthy investigation? How much more damage will occur? I don’t know if the public realizes how many lawsuits we are going to be paying for . That’s money that could be going to resources to make our community better safer.
    Citizens need to demand this Corpus step down NOW.

    And as for Mr Aenlle , he is a despicable human being, who should never have been hired . He preys on women , terrorized the SO staff and is clearly unstable.
    This man should never set foot in the sheriffs office again. He should be in an orange jumpsuit along with his girlfriend.

  12. And to Undersheriff Fox , You appear to be a decent man who has been misled. If you do not remove yourself from these two corrupt individuals, you will be tied to this scandal for the rest of your career. Captain Phillips has a conscience and showed integrity , this is your chance to do the same.

    • No he is a POS. Was hated at Daly City just as much as he is hated at the Sheriff’s Office. He is an arrogant despicable human being whose wife was an ex San Mateo County DDA who now works for a law firm defending cops. I’m sure he is cowering with his attorneys right now for violating Tapia’s civil rights.

  13. This is an ugly love affair that has gone terribly awry and is going to cost taxpayers tons of money in the form of lawsuits and attorney’s fees. Sheriff Corpus, blind with poisonous love, made a mistake in bringing romance to the workplace. She cannot have it both ways. Getting rid of Aenlle immediately will count for something, but it might be too late for Sheriff Corpus.

    • Are you absolutely sure that is the WORST transgression that ANYONE working for the San Mateo Sheriff’s office has ever done? Not a trick question. Asking for a friend…..

      • Basically, all of the comments about past issues and past Sheriffs need to stop. We are in 2024 and ANYTHING going on currently I the responsibility of Christina Corpus and her choices. Noone is above the law. Noone gets a pass because they are female . Noone gets to break laws because they are latinoz

        Let me ask you this. If you are a leader and a member of yiur team has multiple HR complaints and is causing budgeting issues county wide and has some sort of power personality issues do you ket them do whatever and say whatever they want snd promote them? And then ignore the entire department and treat this job like you own the building ?

        Something is seriously wrong with Christina Corpus. She had her chance to step down. Now any government entity that needs to step in and reveal her corruption will enforce this. Zero confidence in this process. Zero!

        Worst kind of person and people surrounding her.

  14. What is it with her and Vicky the mini-me peanut, he has some
    weird hold over her. Wonder what it is ? It is so strange. Like
    she is deaf to what it happening ? Manson-Squeaky repeat ?

    She is making simply insane comments these days. Witnesss the melt down
    at the BoD of Supvs the other day, totally nuts. People were rolling
    their eyes and saying “WTF” is this ?

    I hear that the Transportation (Court House Sec etc) SO guys are hiding out in their offices, waiting for guidance to arrest Vicky on a 602 (trespassing) if he sets foot on County property and fearing retaliation if they do. Great..

    Oh and POST is gonna weigh in as to the
    Little Man not having current POST certs { LE Mgmt Basic, LE Mgmt Advanced, LE Exec Basic, LE Exec…. } certs to Qual for being Undersheriff. So he is *obviously* totally unqualified to be Underpants Sheriff. Other than him not being sworn,much less current.. Read the County HR reqts to be UnderSheriff and he ain’t it,legally or ethically. But that does not seem to matter any more. It is all theater.

    Oh and if you want a taste, read pg 47 (doc page #, not PDF #) of the Judge’s report, where she quotes the Supervising FBI Agent on the Trump detail about Vicky… Just saying ….
    Oh and if Cal POST et al decertifies the SO due to all this, the training $$ from the state stop instantly. Wonderful. LOTS of $$, but if it results in poorer trained DEPs due to this, you should care a lot. Training is everything. We have a really good group of dedicated Deps due to an amazing amount of training and learning, they deserve huge kudos for this. You all as citizens benefit from this. People dont get it, laws and procedures change every year, you need these guys to be current and thoughtful. If we lose that, we are toast.

    I humbly respect Phillip for quitting. I respect Fox too. How many more ? It’s not you Command guys alone, it’s the 300+ guys left, who are looking for jobs, ready to quit in an instant.

    What a mess. So simply avoided if we did not go down the Little Vicky Road

    • You should respect Philip. Fox on the other hand is not worthy of your respect. He arrested Tapia. He followed an unethical and illegal order and then when the heat went up he quit and scurried away. Classless and he should be busy soon.

  15. Mr Philip, you are a true man of integrity. Highest respect Sir, integrity and honor DO count and are respected and noticed. We listen, we notice. You showed those thoughtful characteristics in depth by your actions,so we wish you kind regards from the grateful citizens of the County for your years of service and your thoughtful guidance. I am sorry it had to end this way, but you did the vastly correct and honorable thing, as a solid person. Kind Regards and best wishes to you for your future endeavors – From the Citizens of SM County. I speak for a few, but I am sure there are many thousands out there who feel the same and wish you the best due to your honorable actions as a decent man.

  16. Corpus promoted a computer Bill who is associated with an ICAC case. He is also the arresting officer who arrested Tapia. You should’ve known better and walked away after you got a break from ICAC Mr Bill. Think again..

    • Known for many years and the exact opposite of a “hothead” and 100% ethical. That’s the reality and not a biased opinion.

  17. I’ve known Brian Phillips for nearly 20 years, and he’s a man of integrity, accountability, and genuine character.

    The situation at SMCSO is shaping up to be even more concerning than the issues that arose during Laurie Smith’s tenure at Santa Clara County SO. Sheriff Corpus seems to be doing everything in her power to maintain control, but her performance at both the press conference and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors meeting left much to be desired. Her lack of tact, professionalism, and critical thinking was on full display, making it both astonishing and disheartening that someone so seemingly unprepared and inept could ascend to such a critical leadership role.

    From the outset, Sheriff Corpus has demonstrated clear favoritism toward her boyfriend, Victor Aenile, culminating in his recent promotion to undersheriff. This decision raises serious questions, as it seems unlikely that he possesses the necessary qualifications for the role, despite holding POST certifications as a reservist. Such a move reflects poor judgment and undermines confidence in her leadership.

    This is not a witch hunt by any means, but it’s evident that Sheriff Corpus lacks the humility to take responsibility for her actions. Her arrogance makes it unlikely she will step down or face accountability for her decisions.

    The fact that she has ZERO command staff now speaks volumes. What does that say about her leadership?

  18. Regardless if corpus and aenlle are dating she can not be impartial to his complaints and is not capable of recognizing an issue and will discipline Aenlle- this is the issue the favoritism and inability to separate her “special friendship” at the sake of the entire SO and entire county. Victor can do whatever say whatever and be in charge orf anything and everything at the SO

    This is scary! Disgusting and manipulative

    Something is brewing, just what is it? Why do they need to be here why wont they step down

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