(Read the grand jury’s accusation.)
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus will stand trial on corruption charges to determine if she should remain in office.
The county civil grand jury has issued an accusation against Corpus for willful or corrupt misconduct, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced this morning (June 30).
The Board of Supervisors asked the civil grand jury to investigate the allegations in November 2024, according to Wagstaffe, whose prosecutor advised the civil grand jury.
Four counts
The allegations against Sheriff Corpus include one count of conflict of interest and three counts of retaliation.
The conflict of interest allegation pertains to her decision to hire and supervise former Executive Director of Administration Victor Aenlle, with whom she had a close personal relationship, as the DA put it.
The three counts of retaliation concern the termination of Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan; the transfer of Capt. Brian Philip; and the arrest of Deputy Carlos Tapia, the president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
Jurors reject three counts
The civil grand jury rejected three other potential counts of misconduct. One rejected count is about Corpus deleting overtime for her assistant in the Millbrae bureau, Valerie Barnes, after she raised concerns about Corpus’ hiring of Aenlle in January 2023.
Another rejected count has to do with Corpus locking former Capt. Rebecca Albin out of the Half Moon Bay bureau in June 2024 after Albin posted on NextDoor about her departure from the sheriff’s office.
The third rejected count has to do with Corpus allegedly calling Mike Sena on Dec. 4, 2023, about reassigning Lt. Stephanie Josephson after she made a report to HR. Sena and Josephson work together at the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center.
The grand jury’s accusation follows a month-long, closed-door hearing in which 32 witnesses, including Corpus, testified under oath. The hearing was handled by Deputy District Attorney David Stein, who will also lead the prosecution against Corpus, Wagstaffe said.
Corpus is scheduled to appear in court on July 15 at 9 a.m. before Presiding Judge Stephanie Garratt to answer the accusation.
Corpus’ attorney reacts
Attorney Thomas Mazzucco, representing Corpus, said the accusation stems from “politically motivated complaints raised by upper echelons and union leadership.”
“These grievances — centered on personnel assignments, executive staff appointments, and internal union matters — are not unusual in large law enforcement agencies undergoing modernization and meaningful reform,” Mazzuco said in an email today.
Corpus is entitled to a trial by jury on the accusation. If convicted, she faces one penalty: removal from office.
Firing process is separate
Wagstaffe would have to bring separate criminal charges against her if he wanted to send her to prison.
At the same time, the Board of Supervisors is undertaking a separate process to fire Corpus after voters in March overwhelmingly passed Measure A, giving supervisors the temporary authority to remove the sheriff.
A hearing officer has recommended her termination, and the board voted unanimously on June 24 in support of that recommendation. However, Corpus intends to appeal and have a hearing. That could come in 60 days.
“The two processes are independent of each other and the issuance of the grand jury accusation is separate from, and distinct of, the Measure A removal process,” county spokesman Effie Milionis Verducci said in an email yesterday.
Wagstaffe said the timeline for prosecuting the accusation depends on whether Corpus conducts discovery and files motions. He said his office is ready to go now, but the case could extend into next year.
“I’d like it to be as soon as possible. This case has created a really difficult situation in San Mateo County,” Wagstaffe said in an interview yesterday.
Other civil grand jury cases
In Santa Clara County, Sheriff Laurie Smith was accused of corruption by a civil grand jury on Dec. 13, 2021, and was convicted on Nov. 3, 2022.
Smith continues to receive a $25,381 pension each month, according to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
The San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury, a panel of 19 volunteer residents led by foreman Michael Kovalich, reached its decision on Friday, and the DA announced the outcome this morning.
Wagstaffe said 17 of 19 jurors heard the case because two of them weren’t available. To accuse Corpus, at least 12 of the jurors needed to agree.
It’s only the second time the civil grand jury has filed an accusation against a public official in San Mateo County. Albert DiMatteo, a board member for the San Mateo City School District, was accused and convicted in 1980 of selling a high school’s pickup truck and van to his sister, and then transferring the pink slips to his name.
Union calls for resignation
The San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association yesterday repeated its call for Corpus to resign.
“By refusing to step down, Sheriff Corpus continues to waste millions of dollars in taxpayer money,” the union said. “She believes her own lies and has shown that she has no integrity. She does not deserve to lead a law enforcement agency.”
Maybe Corpus has multiple personality disorder and that is why she doesn’t remember sending racial texts, or that she has a close personal relationship with Aenlle or that she needs to follow laws before firing people or arresting them or asking them to do illegal things…
Maybe we will hear that she is mentally ill soon because she will never admit to doing anything wrong- even if there are videos, emails, texts and witnesses saying otherwise. Corpus and her followers view the entire county as corrupt and politically motivated to remove her. Please finish this up soon- just resign you sick vial woman
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Hopefully this trial will be a dress rehearsal for the criminal trial against her. She not only deserves to lose her job, but she should go to prison. Her actions, such as illegally jailing a critic and firing supposedly disloyal employees, go beyond the pale. Victor should face a criminal trial too.
Is an insanity plea possible here? She might argue that for the past three years, she was temporarily insane. What would happen if she argued diminished capacity?
FINALLY!!!!!! Corrupt Corpus is about to get exactly what she deserves!!!!! Little Vicky cannot save her now!!!!! Word is he already dumped her!!! Getting as far away as possible to save his own butt. Pop the popcorn!!!! This will be pure justice for all those who were abused, threatened, intimidated, harassed, arrested, and terminated wrongly by HER.
NO BIG DEAL! all civil and Trump does this everyday lol! No proof of ANY criminal conduct as all the ‘goood old boys’ have been praying for!!! NOT ENOUGH to remove an elected official! Conflict of interest and retaliation happens all the time in SMC…like when the DA charged the out of the state resident on the BATMAN CASE ! was it a favor to BOLANOS? Fight it to to the end Corpus and they are just allegations not proven or established in a Court with due process.
just to be clear you are an elected official not an EMPLOYEE of SMC
Seriously?????? You cannot possibly be this stupid!!!!! Corrupt Corpus made her bed….quit comparing Bolanos to her! Look at the evidence….it is overwhelming!!!! Clearly you know nothing about the office or this horrific train wreck this so called sheriff is.
I lived and worked in SMCo for 70 years.
In days gone by it was a 60-40 Republican County where the best people for the job were elected, regardless of their party affiliation.
It’s become a place where the only thing that matters is your race, pronouns and whatever you can do to shame anyone who disagrees with you.
All the political hacks from Jackie Speier on down were on the Corpus bandwagon when she ran for office despite the fact she was grossly incompetent, but checked all the boxes!
Voters get what they deserve by blindly buying into the crap being spewed by these lame candidates.
In the end, this will cost the taxpayers over $50Million to settle the lawsuits left in her wake.
Right on Hawkeye.. it hurts, but sadly you are 100 percent correct .
Little Victor Napoleon’s law enforcement career is as good as over. He is despised by everyone at the Sheriff’s Office. Without Corpus giving him cover, he won’t be sitting at home filing CCW applications on line to satisfy his Reserve hours requirements. He will have to suit up and go out into the field. The level of scrutiny he will face will drive him out, along with his ego, which will,not be able to stand not being in power. As a Reserve, his standing at the Sheriff’s Office is At-Will, so he can be let go anytime, for any reason, or no reason at all. I don’t think the next Sheriff keeps him on. And then there are the potential criminal charges over his possession of silenced Patrol rifles, and possible Federal charges for Civil Rights violations for his part in the unlawful arrest of Carlos Tapia…
If it weren’t so very sad, it would be funny. In the article above, Corpus’ chief counsel, Mr. Mazzucco, is quoted, “In the meantime, under her direction, the Sheriff’s Office continues to make significant progress: crime rates are down…”. I’m pretty confident that his ridiculous statement will result in a bill to the County for his time to give it. He fails to explain that at the recent budget presentation Corpus asked for additional funding because crime was on the rise in SM County. Jeeze, combine this elected law enforcement leader and her legal counsel as a pair, then they appear more like clowns than professionals.
What a perfect follow up to Corpus’ inability to comprehensively explain her budget requests, as well as her own conflicting crime analysis figures, blaming others for the figures during the Board presentation. Corpus fails to see, and for that matter understand, the correlation between crime statistics, crime rates, arrest reports and the need to shoulder responsibility for errors. Very sad indeed, not funny.
Is the civil grand jury corrupt too?
Along with 40 witnesses. Oh and
3 independent investigations by 2 law firms and 1 retired judge all women, LGBTQ or otherwise diverse respected personsel working for the corrupt county employees too.
Everyone is supposedly supposed to believe the world around Corpus is corrupt and part of a politically motivated agenda of some sort we haven’t really heard what that agenda is – the good old boys
And corrupt unions, 800 corrupt sheriff employees… so why does Corpus want to continue working with all of these corrupt people ?
The voters in 2022 no longer support her either!
Good question. What say you sheriff?
“Because the truth matters, and so does the will of the voters”. Really Sheriff? We overwhelmingly voted you OUT! This is just embarrassing to watch, have some pride and get out while you can.
This is further validation for the brave whistleblowers who have suffered under the Corpus Regime.
I had great sympathy at the beginning all of this for Christy We all saw how “Dr “ Aenlle love -bombed the hell out of her.. we all saw he was a power hungry, inept snake that was only using her. Our new Sheriff started out at the gate as an adulterer. Any feeling of empathy quickly faded away as this horror story progressed. If the doctor has really left her , get the straight jacket ready.
I am beginning to believe that the sheriff may be mentally challenged. She has shown odd facial expressions while walking through a room, which seems concerning. If she does have a mental disorder, it could explain the many unprofessional decisions she has made. Her ongoing fight to prove she is not responsible for the negative effects on her police force suggests that something is not quite right. Does she not have any family who can help her seek the proper assistance? Does she not realize that her claim to fame is not for being a positive role model in the policing industry? Is she unaware that other women find her behavior disgraceful and that it tarnishes the badge?
Mazzucco Is going to wish Corpus resigned. Mazzucco has been filled with lies and is dealing with an incompetent moron. Once his law firm cross examines actual respected, competent personnel the only thing he will realize is his whole froms reputation is being ruined by this BS.
Modern policing- please give it up – corpus hired Hsiung and Monaghan because they are about as modern as it gets- only difference is that they are ethical and have morals and values which aren’t in line with false arrests, paranoid fabricated up conspiracy theories and witch hunts. Aenlle is a realtor, a realtor- how is that modern?
It is called unqualified and incompetence!
Bring it on Mazzucco- you also might want to read up on after Hsiung left – Corpus was absent- absent all summer!! it was in the papers because Aenlle was traveling to conferences with her on the county dime. The result of her continued absence and lack of knowing what is actually going on would be hard to access from someone absent. The spiral started after that- Aenlle being in charge od hiring Dan Parea, the ignored HR complaints, union votes of no confidence the list goes on.
The story doesn’t start with a good old boys club or political motivation nor are there ANY justified actions of any kind from Corpus. The legal process to protect a crooked Sheriff is so beyond unethical. Shameful and greedy to spend countless county funds to prolong this mess. My opinion is this- what is the point? Why work somewhere that is unenjoyable for everyone? Ask Corpus how many days a week she actually goes to work and what she is working on?
We all saw how little she knows about her so called department. Nothing is getting done except finger pointing and NO ACCOUNTABILITY whatsoever. Three investigations later and a civil grand jury have ALL concluded the Sheriff has an improper relationship and conflict of interest,AND blatant retaliation.
To think one little realtor is a large part of all of these actions- then the Sheriff should see and admit she is wrong. The Sheriff is a sworn position and the oath spoken hold her more accountable. If there is any ounce of dignity, self respect and morals the Sheriff should 100% step down and stop dragging out the inevitable.
Start some major counseling sessions Corpus.
This story is heartbreaking to the good men and women in law enforcement. First Latina female Sheriff in San Mateo . She had the support of many who tried to help her and begged her to dump the doc. but she chose to throw it all away for him. Mr Aenlle needs to also be held accountable the guy still has Chief of Staff as current on his linkedin profile. He just can’t let go even after his reputation being destroyed. When will his reckoning come?
The sheriff is becoming more emotional at every turn, crying her eyes out constantly. She was balling when she came out of the grand jury hearing on Monday and went to her office. Everyone saw it. It would be smart to get a court order to take away her guns, just to prevent her from harming herself or others. She doesn’t need a gun in her job, she’s a paper-pusher who hides in her office on the days she chooses to come in. But at some point she may decide she has nothing else to lose and will go out in a blaze of gunfire.
Her um um um “side the story” seems to be um, um falsely rehearsed.
Nonsensical and little explanation for anything at all. Circling round and round with some Victor conspiracies that have tainted her entire career.
Fact or fiction is not something the sheriff demonstrates to know the difference. This has to be highly concerning for her attornies to listen to her speak and tell anything. Emails and texts seems to recall a different scenario mam- done