BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
Deputies Union President Carlos Tapia is suing San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus for false arrest, discrimination and retaliation.
Tapia’s lawsuit also provides a glimpse into Tapia’s relationship with Corpus’ former chief of staff Victor Aenlle, who is named in the lawsuit alongside Undersheriff Dan Perea, former assistant sheriff Matthew Fox and San Mateo County.
Tapia says in the lawsuit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court on June 13, that in September 2022, Aenlle told Tapia he “did not deserve” the position as union president and was disappointed that former deputy union president David Wozniak was still part of the board. Aenlle believed that Wozniak was overly supportive of Carlos Bolanos, who Corpus ran against for sheriff, the lawsuit states. Before Wozniak stepped down as president, the deputy’s union political committee endorsed Bolanos over Corpus.
Corpus was sworn in January 2023 and appointed Aenlle as chief of staff. Aenlle had worked on her campaign and was on her transition team that she put together between her win in June 2022 over Bolanos, and being sworn in.
Rumors began swirling that Aenlle and Corpus were having an affair, and Aenlle asked Tapia if to help dispel them in October 2022, attorneys David Mastagni and Grant Winter say in the lawsuit.
A 400-page report by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, commissioned by the Board of Supervisors, alleged Corpus and Aenlle have been romantically involved. Both Corpus and Aenlle have denied being in a relationship. Cordell’s report also alleged retaliation, conflicts of interest and intimidation of employees by Corpus and Aenlle.
Sheriff was in tears
A month after Aenlle asked him to clear the relationship rumors, Corpus called Tapia in tears, saying that Fox had told her an employee at the Sheriff’s Office had accused her of being in an affair with Aenlle, the lawsuit stated.
Both Corpus and Aenlle felt that Tapia should have done more as president of the union to handle the rumors, the lawsuit stated. Aenlle was “disappointed” with Tapia for not doing more to “handle the situation,” according to the lawsuit.
Aenlle was also upset with Tapia for not acting after seeing the union group chat where a member of the board accused Aenlle of not being qualified for the job in January 2023, according to the lawsuit.
Tapia’s lawsuit reiterates some of the claims in Cordell’s report about Aenlle wearing a gold badge akin to one a deputy would wear. Aenlle has been a reserve deputy for over a decade, is a realtor for Coldwell Banker and has a private investigation business.
On March 19, Wozniak sued Corpus and Aenlle for allegedly demoting him because the deputy’s union political committee endorsed Bolanos when he was union president. In April, Aenlle asked Tapia what he thought about the lawsuit and told him Wozniak had “f***ed up” and was “going to pay” for suing him, the lawsuit stated.
On July 1, Corpus hired Perea as undersheriff. That month, Perea asked Tapia to create a new overtime policy, but Tapia disagreed, according to the lawsuit.
On Aug. 15, 2024, Tapia had a meeting with Perea and Corpus to discuss the mandatory overtime policy, the lawsuit said. The discussion became heated, and a few hours later, Tapia received an email requesting that he submit his timecards for auditing purposes, according to the lawsuit.
The union on Aug. 30, 2024 submitted a complaint to the California Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, alleging that Corpus and Aenlle had created a toxic work space and retaliation against union members.
Tapia arrested
On Nov. 12, Corpus ordered the arrest of Tapia for time card fraud on the day the Cordell report came out. He was jailed but bailed out. The case was thrown out by District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe because there was no evidence of a crime.
Corpus opened an internal investigation into Tapia and banned him from the sheriff’s offices, according to the PERB complaint.
Fox was responsible for the investigation into whether Tapia had committed a crime, according to the lawsuit.
In April, investigators for PERB determined that Corpus and Aenlle discriminated and retaliated against Tapia. PERB said their actions prevented Tapia from representing employees, which is a violation of state law. Corpus, Aenlle and Tapia’s attorneys did not respond to comment on the lawsuit.
Firing process begins
The lawsuit comes as the Board of Supervisors officially started the process of firing Corpus. Corpus was also set to testify in front of the San Mateo Civil Grand Jury on Monday.
Wow…another lawsuit! All this and yet Corpus is “desperately trying to save her job.” Maybe, if she didn’t harass, retaliate, falsely arrest her own staff, and generally create a perniciously toxic work environment she’d actually have a job to save. A true leader leads by example, is competent, is empathetic and caring to their staff, demonstrates humility, believes in transparency and building trust, puts others and the community before themselves and strives to develop meaningful relationships to support the mission of the agency in service to the public. She has done the total opposite of all those leader-based attributes. Corpus and her minions have done nothing but destroy what has historically been a great agency, comprised of honorable, dedicated and hard working men and women. While county cannot entirely avoid culpability for these seemingly endless array of lawsuits, Corpus and Aenelle should be held personally and financially responsible. Enough is enough.
Corpus and aenlle need to be held PERSONALLY responsible to pay off all these lawsuits that are caused by their utter reckless, incompetent, criminal, retaliatory, unprofessional and outrageous actions! I will repeat the quote from above…”ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!”
How can the county have all these accusations against her for doing all these things alleged in these lawsuits yet still fight these lawsuits? Seems like a huge waste of time and money. Why isn’t the county trying to settle these and right the wrongs corpus did?
Bearing in mind that we have, so far, just the complaint, a lot of the allegations in it are, if upheld, pretty damning. The most eyebrow-raising to me (against stiff competition), for sheer effrontery, is that Mr. Tapia was served on Nov. 12, 2024, the same day of his false arrest and (brief) jail time, with “administrative leave” paperwork, ordering him to henceforth remain inside his residence from 8am to 5pm, Tuesdays through Fridays, and be constantly reachable by telephone during those hours.
The S.M.C. Sheriff’s Office lacks any authority to place either Mr. Tapia or anyone else under house arrest.
And this, mind you, is the president of the deputies’ union, prevented in that and numerous other ways (the complaint states) from representing the union’s members.
Case number, for the curious about details, is 25-CIV-04482 .