BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus was fired today, 31 months after the Daily Post started asking questions about her relationship with realtor Victor Aenlle, who she catapulted from reserve deputy to chief of staff.
The Post focused its attention on the case after Corpus put out a routine press release announcing her command staff. The others she hired had decades of experience leading law enforcement agencies. Aenlle, on the other hand, had his time as a trainee deputy or his time with the Woodside Mounted Patrol, known for its rodeo.
Corpus refused to take questions about Aenlle. Aenlle, in a brief conversation with a reporter, told her to do more research.
In a March 6, 2023 column, I questioned whether Corpus was telling the truth when she ran for sheriff. During the campaign, her website said, “By building an honest relationship with the residents of San Mateo County, we can increase trust in law enforcement.” Yet she wouldn’t take questions about why she hired Aenlle. In fact she wouldn’t take any questions at all.
Behind the scenes, sheriff’s employees soon realized Corpus and Aenlle had a close personal relationship, though they both deny it was an affair.
Publicly, however, the relationship was kept from the public. In fact, when the Post began to ask questions about Aenlle’s credentials, the newspaper got a letter from Aenlle’s lawyer in Los Angeles, threatening to sue if the paper’s reporters continued to ask about his qualifications to serve in her inner circle.
Shrugged it off
Members of the Board of Supervisors seemed unaware or unconcerned about the relationship, which violated county ordinances. Other media outlets shrugged off the story too. A columnist for another paper called her “charming” and Aenlle “likable enough.”
Then on Sept. 10, 2024, all hell broke loose when the Board of Supervisors hired former Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell to investigate the pile of HR complaints against Aenlle.
It was clear that the board, most of whom supported Corpus in the 2022 election, was now willing to delve into the allegations.
A few bad apples
Corpus argued that the complaints were coming from a few bad apples. That argument lost its persuasive force later in the day when her deputies and sergeants voted overwhelmingly to declare they had no confidence in Aenlle. The vote was 306 in favor to 12 opposed.
On Nov. 12, 2024, the day the Cordell report was to be released, Corpus had the chief of the deputies union, Carlos Tapia, arrested and thrown into jail for timecard fraud. A month later, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe declined to prosecute Tapia, saying the investigation by the sheriff’s department was flawed.
Sheriff’s Capt. Brian Phillip refused to arrest Tapia, believing the order from Corpus was illegal. Instead, he resigned. The order was later deemed retaliatory and without legal justification.
$701,000 in compensation
The supervisors, who didn’t think a recall would be successful or fast enough, decided to ask voters to amend the county charter to allow them to fire a sheriff. The measure passed with 84% of the vote.
However, the supervisors took seven months to between the charter change and yesterday’s firing, using the time to give Corpus a chance to make her case in an administrative hearing and file numerous lawsuits. The county government paid for the law firm representing Corpus. Corpus makes $701,310 in total pay, including $466,058 in pay and $235,252 in benefits, according to 2024 records obtained by Transparent California, a nonprofit, nonpartisan operation that keeps track of government compensation.
I’m convinced, Mr. Price. You guys deserve a victory lap.
A recall is done by citizens and when Measure A passed the efforts fizzled. Not only that but a percentage of voters have to sign a petition to start a recall at a cost per signature to validate them. Then the time limit to file the recall to vote in March or November .
Measure A had to go through board meetings and board member votes by a date in December2024 to get it on the March 2025 ballot.
When Measure A went on the ballot in March 2025 there were no signatures collected ny December 2024 for a recall to appear on the March 2025.
Leaving efforts for a recall the efforts to do so would have left the earliest possibility for November 2025 and more likely March 2026 before a recall would be held.
I don’t think the public expected Measure A to need such a lengthy process, initials board of supervisor votes, initial hearing, more votes, then a 10 day trial and more votes. And Corpus argues the process was rushed and unfair? Corpus argued everything and side stepped anything she was found guilty of. Corpus blamed Matthew Fox for rhe false arrest investigation. Corpus says Aenlle was a reformer met woth resistance- I guess it’s ok to vacation in Hawaii with “subordinate employees”… seems ok to do with your children too. Then the retaliation- Corpus hired her own Executive team- Corpus promoted by her own choice the Captains. What resistance? Everyone was supportive until she allowed Aenlle, a realtor, reserve deputy … to overstep his authority- he was with her 24/7 part of every decision, viewing every confidential piece of information, giving orders and telling the Sheriff who to trust and who to demote, fire etc.
Not resistance from day 1, but likely a year to 18 months into her term when power and authority took over Aenlle and peoples careers were being impacted with demotions and ignored HR complaints.
By the way who exactly said the Cordell report was wrong and what exactly is missing? Some notes? The very people in Cordells report were also interviewed in the Kekker report, for the grand jury and under oath for Emerson’s 10 day trial. Many of the same people were interviewed for the Oppenheimer investigation. So what are her attorneys grandstanding and spewing to the public? The reports all said the same information, involved the same people and shared the same theme of information?
The Corpus attorneys also said Measure Anis against the law and unconstitutional? The Superior court snd Federal court seem to have told them over multiple court hearing since June that Measure A is valid and was placed on the ballot by 90,000 voters. Who does Corpus think voted for Measure A? The same voters that elected her. The same voters yes that read the Cordell report and spoke to deputies and also watched Corpus falsely arrest her union president before measure a was enacted. Votes of no confidence were flying all over and not solely based on cordells report and definitively nothing changes with a few missing pages of notes.
Corpus fails to say I was wrong at ANY POINT! She failed to say we need to work together not on separate teams. She says the (few) people who trust Corpus know a different side and those people are Aenlle and her family- one day if not already she will turn on them too. Corpus already said she sacrificed her marriage. Corpus sacrificed her soul and she alone allowed all of this. Corpus created this mess.
Let’s hope she moves on. Enough people have had sleepless nights, enough peoples families are impacted with daily stress and anxiety. Enough is enough. Please stop these lies, these grandstanding stories, these nonsense speeches blaming everyone else. Move on. Let us all heal. Have dignity and respect for the peace we all deserve. The county and news have revolved the past 2 years around Corpus, and we are all suffering from her choices. Let’s focus on the community again and let’s stop wasting newspaper ink and our breaths speaking about Corpus and her weak regime. Let’s move on. In the weeks and months ahead let’s focus on the right people to lead us out of this mess and move forward. Don’t make the same mistakes. Choose someone qualified, someone with proven leadership skills. Someone the Sheriff team and the county leaders know and trust.
Hearsay won.
No, hearsay didn’t win the residents of San Mateo County won against a person who was abusing her power, retaliating against employees in fostering a hostile work environment.
Ding dong the witch is dead…
Time for ABC7 to fire Dan Noyes. He intentionally misled his audience into thinking her actions were legal and within policy. He is probably used to persuading people into thinking his skewed narrative is accurate. ABC7 should fire him, and if they don’t, we need to challenge the station’s license when it comes up for renewal. Dan, you may not realize it, but it’s time to look for a new job.
Dan Noyes gives the distinct impression he is mired in the darker side of jaded journalism. Very similar to Corpus experiences mired Noble Cause Corruption, doing what each sees as correct without research or regard for laws. He assets he is acting appropriately, when he is not even close to that standard.
I saw on social media where he appeared to be trying to intimidate a uniformed SO captain after the BOS meeting, asking the captain to explain “beds” in the Millbrae substation, while smirking behind his iPhone camera. It would seem that Noyes was ignorant of the trend for such sleep-room practices dating back to at least 2019. Then, in 2019, ABC’s Vic Lee reported quite respectfully about San Mateo PD’s creative practice to find places for the 75% of their officers who commute great distances and work long hours. Don Horsley endeavored to do the same in the SO long before 2019.
Next, the social media video showed Noyes trying to dox the silent captain, asking him to confirm that he lived out of state. Again, Noyes apparent ignorance surfaced. Beside the ill advised journalistic practice of doxing a peace officer (for which Noyes employer should discipline him) state law only requires officers to be legally authorized to work in the United States, not live in California. That is due to the 2022 SB 960 that repealed previous requirements.
Kudos to the SO captain for resisting the inappropriate behaviors of Noyes and to avoid engaging him on either topic. Noyes knows how to make media inquiries and public records requests. His behavior was far from professional and bode poorly for his employer.
Not only shared his opinion based on friendship, but Noyse purposely ignored things that Corpus was proven guilty of an tried to defame the very victims of Corpus by airing news stories that asked the oublic to be mad at people on paid leave, to be mad at people who work out of state to be mad at other people. Yet Noyse would like the public to ignore Corpus false arrest, her misconduct, her retaliation and her inappropriate relationship with Aenlle.
His journalism isn’t just new stories to stir emotion, its colluding and participation in corruption . Souless man with no conscience.
If I ever see Dan Noyes on television again, I’m going to take every word he says with a grain of salt (actually, I’m just going to change the channel). He has lost all credibility. Nobody ever bought into his propaganda, especially the BOS.
Now that justice has been done, I would like to thank Mr Price and all the reporters at the Daily Post for providing the most up to date and accurate description of the facts of the Corpus chaos. I also applaud your editorial standards by not mixing facts with opinion, something that all media should engage in. The unsung heroes here were the majority of bloggers , who relayed valuable information and wisdom , which the Board of Supervisors were no doubt aware of. The will of the voters expressed by Measure A finally won out and so did democracy in San Mateo County on October 14, 2025.
I’ll echo the kudos for Dave Price and his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the entire debacle surrounding Corpus, who kept following up her bad decisions with worse ones. No integrity. No common sense. No concern for the residents of the County she was elected to serve. She made everything about herself. Not the right attitude for a public servant. Good riddance!
It’s not over. Corpus will still try to get her job back. All this comes down to the large amount of tax money wasted. What happened to the $324.2 million budget? How much was wasted on her attorney fees? Follow the money. She didn’t do it alone.
All this was paid for my the residents of San Mateo County.
Everyone, remember during the next election!
Great job Dave! You and your entire staff deserve great praise by the people of San Mateo County.
You truly represent the tenants of journalism which have been so sadly missed by so many other outlets.
Dave Price maybe you can interview Dan Noyse and ask him why is attacking victims of Corpus and defaming them. Why he ignores the evidence and guilty verdicts of Corpus and twists a new story to deflect from Corpus to attempt to intimidate other people. Why does Dan Noyse think it is ok to attack victims and why does he think they deserve to be punished for speaking out on wrongdoing? Isn’t that whistleblower retaliation 101?
Just curious. He is the only reporter in the whole bay area doing this to the victims. Besides the Mercury Newspaper sometimes jumped on the defend Corpus bandwagon… It’s sad to have these acts of retaliation in journalism towards a very stressful work environment from so many people then to have a few select people attempting to shame the victims and defend the perpetrator.
Lessons to be learned by Dan Noyse and Ryan Macasero- at least report on both sides and don’t report on friendship first. Shame on the both of you. The Superior Court, Federal Court and multiple unions, PERB board and votes of no confidence have overwhelming misconduct reports. Both of you chose to report on hearsay from Corpus and Aenlle. Beyond bad judgement, you lack morals and values. Shame on you. The day that more to come on this story and it’s not over yet and the truth is coming. She ARRESTED someone over $950 coded wrong! She fired and demoted people because AENLLE told her to and told her not to trust them because they followed LAWS and RULES? HELLO wake up! The resentment you have shown to the public is awful.
Just stop victim shaming and show some respect to JUSTICE!
Thank you to Dave Price for allowing a safe forum to connect with other victims and to sometimes feel safe to vent and share on bad days, sleepless nights. This helped so many people have a safe outlet. Sometimes there was some craziness but mostly it was TRUTH- the good and bad shared. sometimes there was gossip and bad rumors…
The Palo Alto Daily Post should be commended for its stellar journalism against VicTina’s Reign of Terror. The team followed in the footsteps of the Spotlight team that earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Thank you Adriana Hernandez for giving us daily updates from the public hearing as cameras weren’t allowed and most members of the public couldn’t attend due to work commitments. Hopefully, time permitting, you are able to keep us updated of daily courtroom activities during the grand jury trial too.
Take a Victory Lap, Daily Post team. You led the way, and never wavered!
Now it’s time to get rid of the DA and his dirty politics.
Too many thoughts on this. #1 Steve Wagstaff is a good man (aka honest and really hard working, a very decent public servant, wish we had more like him). #2 Ray Mueller is similarly a good man. So are the BoS folks. A thankless job, largely, but they do a decent job at it.
Victina and crew are creeps. Dont let the creeps win. What makes me really po’d is that she applied on the day she was fired for her $590k (i dont know the exact percentage) pension. For LIFE. What a jerk. A reward for being a life long loser, a 2nd or 3rd rate cop (ever do a Code 3 violent Felony arrest ?), always promoted to jobs she could not handle or ever deserved. Always on the phone to Lisa, asking her what to do. Like 10 times/day. Like during the YouTube shooting, What should I do, please help me !!!
The Peter Principle existance proof. You rise to your level of incompetence.
One consolation thought however, is that she will NEVER be involved with LE again, NEVER be involved with Public Govt in any way, she is ineligible for public office, her involvement with Public Agencies will be zero, also zero involvement in Law Enforcement in any way, plus there is no private company who will pass KYC/diligence/background on her, so basically, she can’t even apply for dog catcher or to any private security, or even to Wal Mart Parking lot attendant, or Costco door checker ? nope. Wont solve in a background check. CVS pharmacy clerk ? Nope, wont pass KYC/background. Welcome to your life. You and Vic created it, now you can live it. But it still pisses me off that you want to collect a pension from us tax payers while being a failed loser. Dont get me started on Vic, wrt to jerks. I heard that a bunch of HMB folks are starting a “dont buy from Vick” movement. Right on. Can we get Coldwell to dump him as a publicity nightmare ? Hope so. I wrote Kamini Lane, the CEO of Coldwell, a note about this. Money talks. Now that it has made AP/UP/Reuters national news, maybe they will dump him ? C is done for, I dont know about him, but knowing most public companies, he’s not long for this world. They simply cannot afford the lawsuits and class actions.
The BOS finally did the right thing by removing Sheriff Corpus, but the amount of time and taxpayer money it took to act is unforgivable.
Millions of dollars were spent ousting this whacko Sheriff. Meanwhile, Corpus was left in office, continuing to retaliate and tanking morale within the department to an all-time low.
And the choice for interim Sheriff? Dan Perea? Really? The former right-hand man to Corpus, who was just caught perjuring himself on the stand? This is unacceptable. Get him out. We need a clear, unbiased reset, not a continuation of The Corpus Cartel.
Remember when it’s time to vote: We cannot afford another process where deputies’ cries for help are ignored while political connections such as a past friendship with The Sheriff can potentially delay action. Yes, that happened…
Thank you to The Post, and of course specifically Dave Price and Adriana Hernandez, for keeping the public informed. I hope you both get the recognition on a broader scale that you both deserve.