BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
Former San Mateo County Assistant Sheriff Matthew Fox quit because of the “disfunction and disarray” in the sheriff’s office that boiled over when the president of the deputies union was arrested for alleged timecard fraud, his attorney said.
Fox’s attorney, Michael Rains, said his client feels misled by Sheriff Christina Corpus and her direction to investigate deputy union president Carlos Tapia for timecard fraud.
Tapia was arrested on Nov. 12 by the sheriff’s office on allegations of timecard fraud, and Fox quit two days later.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced Monday that he won’t be charging Tapia, saying the investigation shows there were “clerical errors” with Tapia’s timecard, but nothing criminal. Corpus and her former chief of staff Victor Aenlle had previously told Tapia about the problems with his timecards before asking Fox to investigate Tapia, according to Rains.
“He’s angry to this day about the way this thing unfolded,” Rains said. “He’s very sorry to have participated in an investigation that resulted in Carlos’ arrest, because he didn’t deserve to be arrested.”
The sheriff’s office did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Fox was promoted by Corpus on Sept. 24 after she fired his predecesor, Ryan Monaghan. Rains said Fox was directed to investigate Tapia’s time card records in early October.
As head of the union, Tapia is allowed to work on union business while he’s on the clock.
While investigating, Rains said Fox found that Tapia was using the wrong code on his timecard to punch in.
“He reasoned that there had to be a reason for the sudden changes in coding and maybe it was that Carlos was aware that he had been using the wrong codes,” Rains said.
When Fox finished his report, he recommended Corpus hand the case over to the DA to continue the investigation, per typical protocol.
Throughout Fox’s investigation, Corpus did not show animosity or hatred towards Tapia, Rains said.
The investigation began after the deputy’s union filed a labor complaint with a state agency about Aenlle and Corpus. That gave the appearance that Tapia’s arrest was in retaliation for filing that complaint.
Tapia was arrested on Nov. 12, the same day the Board of Supervisors released the report into the sheriff’s office by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell which had allegations of retaliation and Corpus having a “personal relationship” with Aenlle.
Two days after the report came out, Fox resigned.
“He was at the point where he had seen enough dysfunction and disarray at the highest levels that he didn’t want to be a part of it anymore,” Rains said.
Fox learned that he had been misled by his former employer when interviewed by the DA’s office on Dec. 7.
Wagstaffe said his team took Fox’s investigation further, speaking with multiple supervisors, creating a 150-page report, speaking with the county HR and the sheriff’s fiscal department.
Wagstaffe said that his office did not find anything criminal, just human errors.
In similar cases, Wagstaffe said fraud is usually apparent and in this case, that was not true and that the county did not lose any money over the errors.
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