BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Managing Editor
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe is no longer waiting for the removal proceedings of Sheriff Christina Corpus to happen before his team makes any decision on criminal charges related to her office.
“We are moving forward with our analysis and proceeding as if there is no Measure A or any talk of a recall. We are just going to do our job,” Wagstaffe said.
Over 90,000 San Mateo County voters approved Measure A on March 4, which changed the county charter to give the Board of Supervisors authority to remove a sheriff.
However, the board did not set any rules for the proceedings before the election, so since then, county officials have been hammering out what the proceedings would look like. The board approved the procedures at its May 6 meeting and aside from Supervisor Ray Mueller on Tuesday urging the county to kick things into gear, there has been no sign that removal proceedings will begin anytime soon.
Wagstaffe’s office has been looking into conduct at the sheriff”s office since the county released a scathing 400-page report by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell. The report alleged Corpus and her former chief of staff Victor Aenlle engaged in retaliation, intimidation, nepotism and had conflicts of interest. The report said Corpus made racist and homophobic slurs.
The report said Aenlle lacks the qualifications to be a reserve deputy, wears a gold badge like an officer, and has the code to a safe holding rifles with silencers.
Wagstaffe has not said what his team is looking into, but he confirmed Thursday that he is no longer waiting for the removal proceedings to end because it has taken so long for the board of supervisors to act.
“We didn’t want to interfere with what the board was doing. They had a procedure they were following, but I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” Wagstaffe told the Post.
One way that a sheriff can be removed is through the civil grand jury. Wagstaffe would not say if the civil grand jury has been investigating the sheriff.
A civil grand jury is different from a criminal grand jury that decides whether to bring criminal charges against defendants.
The civil grand jury consists of county residents who investigate government operations and write non-binding reports with recommendations for improvements.
The jury has the authority under the law to bring an “accusation” against a public official, and then refer the case to the Superior Court for a trial.
The accused official, if found guilty, doesn’t face the possibility of incarceration. Instead, the only punishment Is removal from office. This happened three years ago in Santa Clara County with former Sheriff Laurie Smith. However, she decided not to seek re-election before the grand jury trial ended, making her conviction moot. But she cannot run for sheriff again.
Wagstaffe said he has instructed his team to read the report about Corpus’ allegations against County Executive Mike Callagy to see if there is anything that needs to be added to his office’s investigation.
Wagstaffe also said he is waiting for another report to be released by the county in the coming weeks from the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters, which was hired to conduct an investigation into whether the board ought to begin Measure A removal proceedings.
So basically everyone in the county is looking into Christina Corpus and has been doing so for over a year and no actions have been taken to stop this Sheriff from continuing on her path of destruction. Whatever the Corpus vision is I am pretty sure noone in this county supports it .
Meanwhile I am certain the board of supervisors are likely planning what parades to attend this weekend while the sheroff office employees work in chaos.
Maybe by 2028 there will be a new sheriff oh right that is when her term ends. This is insane and so wrong on so many levels. Corrupt Sheriff being protected more than anyone else.
It’s about damn time Wagstaffe! I understand they need to be careful and methodical , fair process, but come on . This has been a complete joke..
I am very disappointed in the board of supervisors. Many of There has been too much grand standing and feet dragging. No real action . Delay after delay.
Supervisor Canepa does a lot of talking, but says nothing… I honestly don’t know how that guy got elected .
Thank God for Supervisor Ray Mueller, who has always seemed like the most competent levelheaded one on the board . Corzo has been a great spokesperson, but she needs now to demand the rest of them move forward with what they promised the voters of San Mateo County.
I question the independence of the civil grand jury. I know that at least two people have sent them detailed information about Corpus’ wrongdoing in 2023. I’ll bet others have done the same thing. But from what I understand, the DA is the adviser to the grand jury on something like this. Did Wagstaffe talk them out of investigating Corpus? Was he protecting her because they’re both a part of the “county family”?
Corpus and Victor are going to get the knock knock like Sheng Thoa.
What about all the unethical actions that District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has covered up regarding Bolanos? Let’s discuss the issue of convicting innocent people. If they attempt to prosecute Christina, I hope she exposes all their wrongdoing. This county needs to clean up, especially the DA’s office and the judges who are all connected. They tried to go after my son without any evidence; their actions are especially questionable, particularly those of Wagstaffe. It’s disheartening to see someone giving false testimony under oath right little Wagstaffe and Boyde!!!!
why are people stuck talking about Monks? Go to the county website and look at the investigation the county officials handed over to the Attorney General. AGAIN, the lazy Attorney General did nothing- what was the county supposed to do?
This time around same thing- Attorney General does nothing. So Measure A was put into play- sort of noone wants to deal with the process to remove this crazy latina Sheriff.
If there is wrongdoing, those elected need to stop getting away with this.
For the past year, there have been almost weekly articles on wrong doing in the Sheriff office. There is absolutely no accountability. Even the DA saying he will continue investigating doesn’t mean anything changes anytime soon. Even if a grand jury is looking into something nothing changes. Even a ballot measure passing hasn’t done a thing. So here we are in 2025 discussing things that have been going wrong for 2 plus years and investigations that started in 2024.
Why is it that the Attorney General doesn’t save tax payers money and step into this obvious legal issue with the current Sheriff. After an employee was arrested and multiple congress and senate leaders stepped in some senses should have been raised and meetings should have been had. Instead elected officials have the last laugh. The entire depart is waking up with low morale feeling beat down by corruption. The rest of us watch on the sidelines. NOTHING changes. It’s exhausting.
Multiple people are now looking into exit plans to move on from this situation and live life without feeling like you live in a third world country. It is a shame that after two investigations there isn’t a list of reasons to remove the Sheriff ready to go. Now we await a third investigation and then months of what?
Then what? The Sheriff argues her livelihood is more important than the dozens, 30-40+ people that have shared stories. Then there are people like Dan Noyes (with a clear conflict of interest since he is friends with Corpus and Aenlle) actually feeling humane about reporting on victims of Corpus and Parea and Aenlle!
Every hour, everyday, every week that passes I just hope to see some step towards stopping this. It is long overdue and the bridges for any kind of fix are burned. This Sheriff not one single time has said maybe I shouldn’t have my realtor friend working at the department, maybe I should meet with the county, maybe I should attend city council meetings, maybe I should resolve things. Instead we hear a lot about her being a latina female that doesn’t care about any of the committee members. All respect is lost, noooe want to work with Corpus anymore- why is she so defiant on staying in a job that is clearly causing so many issues, including draining county funds for selfish reasons. What is the outcome she hopes to get? Working once a week for the next 3 years and meeting with lawyers weekly to file new claims? Such an unproductive path forward. A reasonable person would cut a deal and spend time with their kids and move on in life peacefully. Instead we have selfish chaos and endless unprofessional drama – watching this woman beat down some pretty respected people.
Consequences should be worse now after all of these public spectacles of betrayal.
Why doesn’t Wagstaffe reach out to higher ups? Is our governor getting updates on this S***t show? When does somebody with the power step in?
Ray Mueller and Jackie Speier seem to be the only two individuals who realize the severity of this matter. Supervisor Canepa is a joke .. all he cares about is getting on camera. He does not work for the people zero integrity.
I plan on on view arresting Corups, Anelle and Perea on July 1, 2025 based on the Cordell and Oppenheimer investigation along with other facts and evidence. I’m tired of waiting.
Deputy Irrelevant, that is an interesting course of action based on the Tapia arrest alone. Kidnapping and False Imprisonment of DSA President Tapia, as directed by the apparently corrupt Corpus and her cronies, certainly appears to be an on view arrest option, bearing in mind §836 PC. The Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions 1401 & 1402 sure seem to cover the important aspects, were the matter to reach a jury. I wonder how much thought those in the corrupt cronies group have considered they might find themselves there? They have no immunity to being arrested themselves.
Who would wait for any recourse they can find at this point? Who reads that second investigation by OG and concludes anything other than the San Mateo Sheriff is corrupt-a BIG LIAR, who allowed nepotism and shady practices.
How can ANY attorney actually say that they that report is proof of racism etc bla bla bla? Corpus and her attorneys actually publicly sound like they are retaliating against whistleblowers threatening to file claims against the people who spoke out about their experiences. This is most concerning to try to intimidate people from coming forward and sharing their experiences in fear of being sued and publicly humiliated by the Sheriff, her abc7 news friend Dan Noyes and now her attorneys. Maybe he county should be adding this retaliation to their list of issues with Corpus.
The only thing I know for certain is that this has gone on far too long, years and years of this. Now here we are June 2025 about to start the next episode of the Days of our Lives San Mateo, staring none other than Christina Corpus herself. Our guesses to the shameful, selfish games this woman will scheme up will be relentless I am sure. What is the end result Corpus hopes to gain from all of this- she is isolated, disrespected and unproductive.