BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, who is facing removal from office, kept from the public details about the rape of a female inmate on a courthouse elevator, a memo from two judges shows.
When the Post learned about the rape from a tipster, a reporter asked Corpus’ spokeswoman, Gretchen Spiker, what happened. She said that an “assault” had occurred between two inmates on Dec. 2 around 3:30 p.m. However, she left out the word “sexual,” making it sound like a jail fight, which is common and not newsworthy.
When the Post asked Spiker via email for more information, she told a reporter to ask the District Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the Post on Dec. 5 that the assault had occurred between a male inmate and a female inmate. When the DA’s office is investigating an incident, they only share details if charges are filed.
At a Dec. 10 Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Noelia Corzo said she wanted an investigation into the elevator rape. Wagstaffe said the same day that his office was still reviewing video footage and interviewing witnesses.
Much more of the story emerged in an email that judges Elizabeth Lee and Stephanie Garratt sent to Sheriff Corpus. The Post obtained the email through a California Public Records Act Request that was fulfilled last week.
The judges said the deputy who was supposed to supervise the inmates while they were going between the Redwood City Courthouse and Maguire Jail “inexplicably” turned his back to the inmates.
They said the female inmate was raped twice.
“It’s common sense not to transport male and female prisoners together, have a female in front of a male, and then turn your back on them,” Garratt said.
There are security protocols to prevent alleged assaults like this, and the judges say the deputy ignored them.
The deputy in the incident, the judges said, had transferred to the county from another police agency. Corpus told the judges that the employee had been fired after the elevator rape.
Corpus has been accused in an independent investigation of nepotism, abuse of power, retaliation, intimidation, racism, homophobia and conflicts of interest. The county supervisors have put on the March 4 ballot Measure A, which would change the county charter to allow them to fire the sheriff.
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