BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent
Victor Aenlle, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus’ chief of staff, has offered many explanations for why he was on a flight to Maui with Corpus as she headed to a vacation in Hawaii in September 2022.
In an interview with retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, whom the county Board of Supervisors hired to investigate complaints about Aenlle, he said it was a coincidence that he and Corpus were on the same flight.
“I was doing covert detail for a high-net-worth individual,” Aenlle said, according to Cordell’s report released last week. The report, which investigated a range of allegations against Aenlle and Corpus, calls for the sheriff to resign and for Aenlle to be fired.
In another conversation detailed in the report, Aenlle said he went to Maui to watch Corpus’ children while she was on vacation. Another time, he said he was providing security to protect the sheriff. And at one point, he denied that he went to Hawaii.
Cordell, who heard about Aenlle’s other statements through interviews with past and current sheriff’s office employees, called his various explanations about the Maui trip “unsettling.”
“It is clear that Corpus and Aenlle have tried to cover up the fact that they were together on a vacation,” Cordell wrote. “Why? Because they knew that their relationship was personal, beyond ‘mere friendship,’ and therefore, a violation of county and (sheriff’s office) policy manual rules.”
The issue is that at the time of the trip in September 2022, Aenlle was starting work on the transition team for Corpus, who was elected in June 2022 and took office in January 2023. As an independent contractor with the county, Aenelle was being paid $105 an hour, up to a total of $30,000, for the transition-team work.
When County Executive Mike Callagy heard about the Hawaii trip in late October 2022, he canceled the contract with Aenlle, saying “It’s the perception that I hired a contractor who went to Hawaii with the sheriff-elect,” according to Cordell’s report.
But that wasn’t the end of Aenlle’s work with Corpus. In January 2023, he was again hired as an independent contractor to work under the sheriff’s or undersheriff’s direction to complete a variety of tasks. The one-year contract was for $92.44 per hour, up to $192,275.
Three months later, Corpus hired Aenlle as an extra-help special projects coordinator. Then in July 2023, Corpus hired Aenlle as executive director of administration, a newly created position that paid $246,979 a year plus benefits. The position is also known as chief of staff.
In early 2024, Corpus submitted at least two requests to increase Aenlle’s pay, according to Cordell’s report. The county denied the requests.
Sheriff’s office policy prohibits conflicts of interest in hiring, recruitment and supervision, Cordell said. One way conflicts of interest may arise is through personal relationships, including marriage, living together, dating or any other intimate relationship beyond mere friendship.
In his interview with Cordell, Aenlle said he’s been married for 30 years. He said he has a professional relationship with Corpus and is honored to work for her.
Corpus didn’t accept Cordell’s invitation to be interviewed as part of her investigation.
In an interview with the Post, Aenlle denied claims that he has had an affair with the sheriff and said he’s the target of a “witch hunt” by the unions representing deputies and sergeants.
The board of supervisors voted Wednesday to terminate Aenlle’s position; but Corpus responded by naming Aenlle assistant sheriff, a position that the board might not be able to eliminate. Corpus said in a memo to employees last week that she’s “here to stay.”
Cordell’s report includes further details, gleaned from interviews with sheriff’s office employees, of a relationship between Aenlle and Corpus. That includes reports that Aenlle bought Corpus a $1,200 pair of Christian Louboutin boots in December 2021 and an $11,000 pair of diamond earrings from Tiffany’s in January 2022.
“There is overwhelming factual evidence that Sheriff Corpus and Aenlle continue to be in a personal relationship since 2021, and that Sheriff Corpus has an actual conflict of interest, in violation of (sheriff’s office) Policy 1025,” Cordell wrote.
But the relationship between Corpus and Aenlle apparently hasn’t always been sunshine and “sparkles,” as one employee called the earrings.
Cordell’s report recaps the following incident during an election-night watch party in June 2022, where Corpus gave a speech thanking her election team as well as her then-husband. Aenlle, who had worked as a volunteer on Corpus’ election campaign, was at the party, as was an employee whom Cordell interviewed.
The report describes the incident as follows:
Aenlle (to Corpus): “How dare you thank (Name of Corpus’ ex-husband)!”
Corpus: “I had no choice.”
Aenlle: “It’s over. It’s over. We’re done.”
Interviewee #3 (to Aenlle): “It’s not about you!”
Aenlle: “Yes, it is.”
Corpus was crying and following Aenlle pleading with him, “Please don’t do this, baby!”
Corpus and Aenlle left the party and talked through the night, according to Cordell’s report, which said Corpus apologized to Aenlle and things were then OK again between the two.
If she doesn’t resign, will investigators eventually have to interview her children about Hawaii? If so, that’s not only abuse of power, that’s abuse of parenting. Unconscionable!
They would more likely ask her ex husband to share his knowledge of the relationship before they involve her children. However, beyond the issue of having an inappropriate personal friendship/ relationship there are numerous other issues highlighted. The entire department she works for has no confidence in her. There is nothing productive happening in san mateo now that she is prancing around avoiding board members. Now state and federAl leaders have to get involved and file charges against her for the laws she is breaking. She could have avoided this and acknowledged the issues with Aenlle and fired him. He doesn’t have to work at the sheriff department. Aenlle has broken laws and has some major authority complexes and isnpower hungry. Disgusting is what Corpus is. Corpus believes her own lies