San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, who is facing removal from office for allegedly retaliating against her employees and other allegations, is demanding the county pay her $10 million.
She hired a new lawyer from Woodland Hills, Calif., Brad Gage, who filed a three-page claim on her behalf, which said she was discriminated against because she is Latina.
Gage goes on to say that County Supervisor Noelia Corzo unleashed an “evil scheme” to remove Corpus from office.
Gage claims that part of that “evil scheme” was to have retired Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell of Palo Alto write a “hit piece” about complaints by employees of wrongdoing by Corpus and her former chief of staff, Victor Aenlle.
Gage claims Cordell was biased, and goes on to state, “It is amazing what some judges will do for money.”
But Gage admits he doesn’t know how much money Cordell received for her work.
Gage repeats allegations made by local TV reporter Dan Noyes on Dec. 13 that pages of Cordell’s report were omitted.
But Noyes himself omitted a key piece of information from his story. After Cordell submitted her report, it went to the county counsel’s office for review. County counsel likely removed the pages from her report. Noyes hasn’t corrected his error.
Gage doubles down on Noyes’ error, claiming that Cordell removed “exculpatory statements” from her own report. Yet Gage doesn’t explain how he knows what those pages contain, since they weren’t part of the report that was released.
Gage claims in his $10 million demand that the Board of Supervisors is biased against Corpus because she is “Latin X.” But most of the supervisors endorsed her in the 2022 election.
Supervisor Ray Mueller declined to comment on Corpus’ claim.
The Board of Supervisors has called a special election in March to ask voters to approve a change in the county charter to allow the supervisors to remove the sheriff. If that attempt to remove her is unsuccessful, a campaign has started to remove her from office through a recall election.
The effort to remove Corpus was prompted by allegations that Corpus intimidated her employees and retaliated against those who crossed her. Gage is silent about these claims.
In September, Corpus fired her third-in-command, Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan, after he admitted to her that talked to Cordell about the investigation. County Executive Mike Callagy blocked the firing, however, protecting the county from a potential wrongful firing lawsuit from Monaghan.
In November, Corpus ordered the arrest and jailing of Deputies Union President Carlos Tapia, who had spoke out against Corpus in his capacity of a union official. Corpus had him arrested on two charges related to timecard fraud.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe threw out the charges against Tapia, saying the timecard allegations were unfounded.
Gage’s claim glosses over the allegation that Corpus was having an affair with Aenlle, her chief of staff, paying him $246,000 per year. A romantic relationship between a department head and a contractor such as Aenlle is a violation of county policy. Cordell reported that Aenlle bought Corpus $11,000 Tiffany diamond earrings and $1,200 Louboutin boots.
Gage said that when Callagy asked Corpus about whether she was having an affair, he seemed to be “more interested in seeking details of Sheriff Corpus’ private life,” suggesting the relationship between a sheriff and a contract employee was off-limits.
The county has 45 days from the date the claim was filed, Dec. 19, in order to either pay the amount demanded or reject the claim. Claims are usually denied by local governments without comment. If a claim is denied, Corpus would be free to file a lawsuit in Superior Court for the $10 million.
Gage doesn’t say why he thinks the “evil scheme” originated with Supervisor Corzo, whose name he misspells as “Noleioa Corzio.” The decision to hire Cordell was made unanimously by the five-member elected board of supervisors.
Gage’s entry into the case is noteworthy. It wasn’t known yesterday if Corpus had changed attorneys or hired a second law firm.
Only a month ago, she was represented at a county supervisor hearing by Thomas Mazzucco and Christopher Ulrich of San Francisco law firm Murphy Pearson Bradley and Feeney.
As sheriff, she is paid $466,058 a year, and her total pay including benefits is $701,310.
County officials have said taxpayers aren’t funding her legal costs.
Seems like an attorney that needs to learn more about retaliation and false arrest. Also someone that needs to learn to spell or maybe the a Sheriff Christy has a new pet name. How insanely unprofessional. Shouldn’t the Sheriff be at work doing her job and not spending so much time defending her boy toy Aenlle.
Corpus has made a mockery of this county and never learned how to work with congress, supervisors and unions in any of her positions. She obviously is way over her head lacking experience and falling onto the latina female BS is getting old. She is complaining that a latina female Corzo has some vendetta against Corpus? What gain is there for the board of supervisors to do this?
The false arrest means what to Corpus?
Would like to know what the gang of Democrat supervisors and their accomplices in San Mateo county are afraid of being exposed by the sheriff. The report was paid for by the same corrupt politicians trying to steal residents votes. Not going to happen we still control the votes and Democrats aren’t going to steal them.
I see you STILL need a remedial writing class. Punctuation never was your strong suit… (Psssst! Republicans also know Corpus and Aenlle need to go to jail.)
Not sure what world you live in. The democratic and republican voters in San Mateo will be voting to get this delusional, immoral and corrupt Sheriff out. The African American retired Judge has nothing to gain by interviewing the HR complaints that were IGNORED because they were all about Aenlle. This Sheriff and Aenlle caused this situation. The lies they tell to hide the truth doen’t work. The report is an investigation into HR complaints which don’t need to be under oath. This is insane to comprehend how ANYONE can’t see past these schemes the Sheriff is trying to pull over the heads of people that may not have kept up on all of these insanity.
This situation was caused by Corpus. This situation has nothing to do with Bolanos. The fact that there has been no accountability from the sheriff to this situation is disheartening. The board of supervisors was supportive and excited about this sheriff then disheartened and blindsided with this Sheirff’s deceit, lies and corruption. Sheriff Corpus should resign and stop this nonsense!
Stop with these crazy responses and nonsense lies. Grow up if at all possible Victor.
$10 million and Corpus will quit? Really what happens if she is arrested?
She deserves to pay the taxpayers Millions for all but eliminating the huge surplus the Sheriff’s Office had when she took office and the loss of experienced personnel who refused to work with her corrupt Administration.
Christina, I know you have a hard time following instructions without Victor around. So here’s what you do with the check. Write Pay to the order of Carlos Tapia then sign it.
The California Constitution requires that a county charter shall provide for an elected sheriff. The California Constitution also requires the charter to provide for the “compensation, terms and removal” of the sheriff. (Const. Art. XI, § 4.) This means the county has the legal right and duty to decide removal procedures for the sheriff.
Article XI, section 4, subdivision (h) of the California Constitution gives charter counties “all the powers that are provided by this Constitution or by statute for counties.” Thus, County has the authority conferred upon it by the Government Code to supervise the sheriff so long as it does not impinge upon the investigative functions of the office.
Government Code section 25303 provides the Board is legally authorized and obliged to supervise the sheriff, “The board of supervisors shall supervise the official conduct of all county officers ..․ particularly insofar as the functions and duties of such county officers ․.. relate to the assessing, collecting, safekeeping, management, or disbursement of public funds. It shall see that they faithfully perform their duties, direct prosecutions for delinquencies, and when necessary, require them to renew their official bond, make reports and present their books and accounts for inspection.”
Government Code section 25303, “This section shall not be construed to affect the independent and constitutionally and statutorily designated investigative and prosecutorial functions of the sheriff and district attorney of a county. The board of supervisors shall not obstruct the investigative function of the sheriff of the county nor shall it obstruct the investigative and prosecutorial function of the district attorney of a county.”
So there it is, statutorily why the SMC Board did what they did, their job. These are the statutory obligations and requirements for the Board to supervise the official conduct of all county officers, including the Sheriff, and her appointees. This frivolous lawsuit is simply another technique to serve as a distraction from the bottom line, Sheriff Corpus appears guilty as asserted in most, if not all of the allegations against her and her staff, as would be her executive team members in the overall scheme that could easily be broadly labeled corruption.
Time will tell and she will continue to intentionally incur financial damages against those she swore an oath to protect and defend, the people of San Mateo County. Corpus’ lawsuit will follow the path of a similar one in San Diego County. Although, Corpus is likely to be required to be deposed, under oath, soon enough in this lawsuit, along with her appointees. That may be worth the cost to watch the perjurious testimony, if it does occur. She’s likely looking for an out of court settlement. While disappointingly sad, it is absolutely consistent with her prior behaviors, if not fully predictable.
Dan Noyes has lost all credibility as an investigative reporter. ABC should fire him for his biased deceptive reporting.
Sheriff” Corpus is even more disgusting than I could have imagined. She was given the absolute opportunity of a lifetime. Corpus HAD supporters she could have flourished with their help . But no , she came in dishonest and corrupt from the gate . We were all fooled.
She brought in her lover , an unqualified tyrant that was rejected from the SO and was basically a pariah .
She was weak, in a bad marriage and looking for attention… Aenlle found a vulnerable, insecure mess and latched on. He USED her but she was blind .. she is still in denial .
This weasel Aenlle worked his way into the Sheriff’s Office where he then caused complete chaos, violated laws and jeopardized public safety. Where is the accountability?? . Now she’s asking for millions.? we are already going to be paying millions to the law-enforcement officers whom she retaliated against. What a sad day for women in law-enforcement and frankly for the entire county. Corpus is a complete disgrace.
It is hysterical to hear Trump supporter Christina Corpus’ attorney use the phrase “ Latin X”. No shame ! Most Latinos despise the phrase .
I see they are going to try and jump on the liberal bandwagon to gain support. Don’t fall for it folks, most of us know it’s complete BS. She doesn’t care about you. She only cares about herself.
All available information points that Gage is NOT a Trump supporter. His political donations are to D candidates (check donor lookup on opensecrets) and his Instagram is clearly aligned with typical Democrat talking points and posts. His interview with Caree Harper on Election Talk was very clearly NOT Republican or pro-Trump.
Sheriff Corpus doesn’t seem to understand that she’s not entitled to any damages to her reputation that she caused. Nobody forced her to behave this way. She’s going to cost the county’s taxpayers millions for false arrests, wrongful firings and workplace harassment.
Well it’s obvious that Sheriff Christy didn’t have Gretchen proof read this. Seems like it was written by someone with a phony PHD. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t be a real cop.
San Mateo County is so corrupt it cannot keep up with lawsuits filed against it. Board of Supervisors are corrupt and wage taxpayers money. The biased judge delivered them the hit piece to support their decision. They should have used a judge out of state. I hope Corpus gets the money and all the SMC idiots are fired!
lolololollolol
“John Smith” (how brilliantly original…were you up all night thinking of that name?), just stop. You’re embarrassing yourself. The only idiots are the Sheriff, her petite boy toy, and their goons.
It wouldn’t be 2025 without the Sheriff ringing in the New Year by making the front page again.
I’m with you Johnny, and I knew it, I knew it all along, low and behold there are always two sides to a story and little by little it ends up oozing out … Noelia was against Christina Corpus; cheesus, she paid a retired Judge to write an evil claim … man sounds evil from the start.
I don’t blame Christina for the suit, it makes sense – they all teamed up against her behind her back to mess up her reputation, how would she work after this? Yes, pay her the money, she pays off her lawyer and after taxes she should have what she deserves for the remainder of her term, eat your small heart out Noelia, and I voted for you you
OMG! Page 5 of DailyPost’s link
“This of course is less than the approximately $800,000 per year that County Executive Michael Callagy reportedly receives”
Is it possible a County Manager is paid that much? That deserves a story of its own
Create your own problems, blame everyone else, sue for ten million. This is the appearance of a sociopath. Delusional arrogance with an eating disorder to boot.
Am I the only one that sees “her” and “his”in reference to Corpus? She can’t be she/hers in one sentence then he/his in the next! Is journalism that hard people??? Also, Noelia is also a Latina as well so how did she discriminate against her own race? Is it because of the “X?” Please do a better job reporters. This is not rocket science. This case should be thrown out as frivilous and without any merit!
Who vetted Corpus’ attorney? It must have been Victor. How embarrassing is this? Brad Gage can’t even get the spelling of supervisor Noelia Corzo correct? The three page claim reads like a teenager wrote it… unprofessional, filled with lies and over dramatic.
I agree Dan Noyes should be removed from ABC. If he couldn’t uncover the glaring truths and uncover that Victor Aenlle and Christina Corpus are having an affair and are corrupt he has no business on that platform. Dan doesn’t have the instinct to be a good and fair investigative reporter.
Let’s get this charter amendment passed and if anything it will help prove that citizens will not stand for having for this disaster of a Sheriff continue on with her madness. Recall is next Christy.
What’s biased about the judge? She didn’t have anything to gain by writing this report. Stop believing the unfathomable lies being spewed by Vicky and Christy – they are inexperienced, unqualified and seized an opportunity to seek revenge on people they worked with and dd not like. Many good people joined her believing she was going to do the right thing and lead this agency. Instead Christy became a monster by supporting Aenlle. Aenlle convinced her she was weak and they spent many hours manifesting issues and creating chaos with these conspiracy theories Aenlle fed her. In reality there are civil rights law, employment laws and county laws they violated and will need to learn. Next time there is a Sheriff elect make sure this person has experience and people skills. The county got sucked too far into the me too movement. This is beyond race, gender and change. Christy had itnout for Bolanos and is stuck living in her Millbrae bubble of rage against this department. This is sickening, Christina Corpus needs mental health counseling and a different line of work. Corpus can’t see that this entire situation blew up because of her bad choices.
It’s not often you see someone sleep their way UP and then back DOWN the ladder…and if you’re paid millions for it, what does that make someone…? Hmm…
And that’s on top of the former and current employees of the Sheriff’s office filed who have filed claims for her and Anelle’s actions. Next we will hear that Anelle has also filed a claim. And then we will have the charter amendment election and possible recall election – more $$. Former Supervisor Slocum’s statement that this whole mess this Sheriff and her “trusted” Aenlle will cost the county for the next 30+ years seems very accurate.
About Salaries!
The voters of San Mateo Cnty’s should be approving all high executives salaries going forward, these salaries are out of proportion. Do you need $800/k to be a public Servant?
Discriminated against “because she is Latina?”
She was hired BECAUSE she is Latin-X !
The BOS couldn’t pick up the phone and call San Diego ?
She and her cronies carry guns and virtual impunity to use them
Posted salaries include benefits and retirement not base pay doesnr make sense
Retire corpus
County executives with help from multiple staff members from departments spent many hours to build a case with the intention of disgracing and displacing the current sheriff.
The cost for the time that the county has put into trying to get rid of her is greater than the costs that have been incurred to cover up more egregious incidents which have occurred within the Sheriffs Office under previous leadership- and in other departments as well.
Furthermore- the accusations associated with all of this do not seem to me to imply that the accused is not doing a good job of protecting the citizens of the County and most have not been proven to be factual.
I guess the congressional and legislative state and federal leaders think otherwise. Corrupt elected Sheriffs are costing California too much money. Something needs to change to stop these elected people to think they sre above the law and stop this chaos. Who says the prior sheriff did something wrong when currently the Sheriff is wrongfully arresting people, wrongfully hiring and protecting unqualified staff member and traveling with them to Hawaii and having dinners out on weekends? A current Sheriff allowing illegal use of badges by a civilian. A current sheriff that communicates with intimidation and sending emails that don’t make sense.
Maybe the first attorney that attended the board meeting fired her too and said you need to resign. The new attorney better pony up for a criminal defense for Christy and tell her to resign. This is unbelievable. What a complete joke. Christy is stuck in the year 2022 saying the same thing as she did when she campaigned- yet she has been in offoce for 2 years creating her own mess. Corpus is supposed to have a position that knows how to communicate with people. The sheriff thinks shes above the law and Aenlle badly advised her. It takes time to build a case and then boom this will blow up in her face worse! There is no support in the county for Corpus the entire county of political leaders said resign- corpus you are DONE!
I am trying to understand the thought process of this Sheriff. Corzo walked door to door supporting the Corpus campaign. Then the Sheriff gets elected, hires Aenlle after allegations come up causing red flags. The Sheriff starts getting HR complaints not only ignores them, then has no disciplinary actions for Aenlle. Not onky does nothing to change the bad behaviors hit defends them. Then treats Aenlle with unethical, protective and irrational choices. The organizational assessment was ignored, the respected Undersheriff leaves, and the new undersheriff honis buddies with Aenlle listens to them too/ ignoring the union’s treating the department horrible. The board of supervisors tries talking to yhe sheroff she ignores them too. Then gets piles of complaints from her employees continuously ignores them. The votes of no confidence start rolling in. The sheriff fires her respected assistant sheriff. An independent investigation fr a retired female, african American judge comes in showing TONS of problems. The sheriff ignores those allegations, has no accountability for anything and then arrests her union president over a wrongfully conducted illegal internal investigation. Her appointed buddy quits as assistant sheriff snd then – the Sheriff still doesn’t put Aenlle on admin leave and then tries to promote Aenlle to a position he doesn’t have qualifications for. And then comgress, legislative leaders, the entore board of supervisors, the deputies, segeants and captains all ask the Sheriff to resign and give votes of no confidence. The sheriff lost her followers and she continues to go on ABC7 news spewing nonsence and sendinf irrational newsletters. Now the entire county has lost respect, the entries Sheriff department is in disarray and the Sheriff can’t respectfully do her job nor does je know how to communicate ethically or morally to her department , to the board of supervisors or to the public. Then now her thoughts are to keep saying this is because she is latino? That she has been treated badly? What the holy hell? I really hope that the Attorney General has to step in and stoop this nonsense and that criminal charges are brought to light to end this insanity.
What a nonsensical bunch of chaos this Sheriff’s has single handedly created. Most of this would have been prevented if she would have just put Aenlle on administrative leave or into a different position not on the executive team or even eliminated her position on her own. Why did the Sheriff need Aenlle so badly to stay on her executive team if it was causing so many issues? What good old boys network? Anyone that was supposedly a good old boy no longer worked at the SO and the newly appointed executive team made by the sheriff were treated horribly. The promotions to Capetians made by the sheriff were treated unfairly and unethically.
This sheriff is wrong on so many levels. This is scary. There needs to be changes to the powers elected officials have. Noone is above the law. Resign in jail Corpus.
Where is our Attorney General or Newsom ? Someone needs to step in now and stop this insanity . Our Sheriff’s Department is in complete disarray and it is affecting public safety.. It’s only going to get worse. Christina Corpus needs to be taken off her platform immediately. She is not well mentally . We will now have to watch her disgusting press conferences spewing more lies I’m a Latin X victim , she is the one who discriminated, retaliated and allowed her boyfriend to terrorize the Department. She cannot handle being Sheriff and so now she’s looking for a big pay payday. This should be a wake up to all of the citizens of San Mateo County.. We have little power to get out a corrupt elected official in a high position.. it’s going to take too much time and cost millions of dollars. We are being forced to watch Christin’s S*** show play out . Her vulture boyfriend and Attorney ‘love every minute of it.
Oh boy another press conference on Monday from the mad sheriff who comes to work and locks herself in her office. Christy you have 59 days so start packing. That is if you and Perea aren’t in custody before that. Maybe the little doctor will come put some money on your books, cause he sure won’t come visit you. Maybe he can sell your new $70,000 table to help with bail and attorney’s fees.
The ONLY scheme going on here is her completely unethical scheme to extort 10 million dollars the taxpayers of San Mateo County!!!!! This is a slap in the face to every voter who believed her nonsense!!!! This claim it is ALL about her being “Latina” is horse manure!!!!!! She is corrupt. She is unethical. She violated the Civil Rights of those who work FOR HER!!!! She authorized the arrest of deputy Tapia. She is a complete and utter disgrace and stain on the Office and the Badge SHE swore to uphold. She needs one thing….an orange jumpsuit. Period.