BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
One of the high-ranking sheriff’s officials who former Sheriff Christina Corpus fired for disloyalty has returned to the work now that Corpus has been ousted.
According to a report by an outside law firm, Monaghan was approached on Sept. 17, 2024 by Sheriff Corpus’ right-hand-man, Victor Aenlle, who wanted to know if Monaghan had been interviewed by retired judge LaDoris Cordell, who was investigating the sheriff’s office. When Monaghan confirmed he was interviewed, Aenlle asked, “When were you going to tell us this?” Two days later, Corpus fired Monaghan.
However, County Manager Mike Callagy decided to keep Monaghan on the payroll over concerns that he would have grounds to sue the county for wrongful termination. District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe decided to put Callagy in charge of an anti-human trafficking unit until Corpus left. Then Monaghan could return to the sheriff’s office.
Still, Monaghan filed a $5 million claim against the county over his firing.
Monaghan will start on Sunday as the assistant sheriff and will oversee the patrol bureaus, hiring, training and internal affairs, according to spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker.
Monaghan told the Post that Binder had approached him for the job, saying there was a strong support for his return amongst deputies and he would like to work with someone deputies trusted.
“Things are being done to turn the chapter,”
Monaghan said.
Binder has also brought back Undersheriff Chris Hsiung, who resigned in June 2024 under the Corpus leadership.
Binder was appointed by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to serve the remainder of Corpus’s term, which ends in January 2029.
Binder told the Post he is still looking for two more assistant sheriffs to oversee the jails and daily operations. More urgently, he needs an assistant sheriff to supervise the jails and plans to promote a captain to the job, Binder said.
What the county will pay Monaghan to serve as assistant sheriff wasn’t immediately known. In 2024, the most recent year available on the government salary database Transparent California, he made $279,321 in regular pay and $460,641 in total compensation including the value of fringe benefits.
Same BS with a different group of clowns.
Sure, Victor… Why don’t you let the grown ups run the Sheriff’s Office now, and go back to preparing your legal defense and fixing up the slums you rent out on the Coast?
No. Don’t start. A quality guy like Binder is hiring a quality team, to do a difficult job, aka repairing the previous creep’s damage. Give them a break. I was a poster who was highly critical of VicTina, (with good reason) but now see professionals coming in to do a difficult repair job. Give them a chance, they are not evil incompetents, unlike the prior administration, but seem to be motivated by professionalism, integrity and honesty. All of which was lacking in the prior adminstration of fools. So let them have a chance. I, for one, will.
Hopefully the open communication is encouraged by the media as well. Here you have a man publicly humiliated and remained dedicated to law enforcement and the people. It is disheartening to see headlines starting off with “fired” and then trying to invoke public anger towards someone by discussing their “open California” public salary as if this were something bad. We need to do a better job of recognizing the good people that devote their lives to law enforcement with dedication, integrity and accountability. Do better media- this man deserves a chance to help clean up the mess. This office has been through a ton of stress and incompetence the past 2 years. Encourage good- Hsiung and Monaghan have been there for these people and the deputies, sergeants, captains and the public need them. Stop trying to humiliate people.
The former sheriff had way too much media attention and all of has done is build her ego. When you recognize a donkey(the former sheriff and her loser sidekick) with too much attention they think they are a lion! Stop play that messy game- both are garbage. Learn from mistakes!
I for one am glad to see professional is back in San Mateo County and the public will benefit. This is good sign to have people that will communicate, be present and do things the right way. If you want to keep the lines of communication open stop trying to humiliate good people trying to do the right thing- reward them with some decency and respect. The truth doesn’t always have to be twisted to try and make other people in the public angry over irrelevant facts.
Right now the community needs to be encouraged to work together, no-one person fixes a problem this big alone. Encourage community- you might just see a county more peaceful. We all need to do better- starting with the media.
If it weren’t for the media — and particularly the Daily Post — this scandal would have never come to the public’s attention. The Post did a huge public service. If it weren’t for their reporting, the previous sheriff would have intimidated and terrorized her staff and wrongfully arrested many people. There’s nothing wrong in pointing out that people were fired when, in fact, they were fired. Salaries come from your taxes and mine. We’re entitled to see how much we’re paying our own employees.
Yes, the Post deserves huge credit. Esp you Dave. Much appreciated. You were instrumental in getting rid of her and mini-me. Good riddance. Could you please follow up with a story on what she and mini-me are doing for a living now ? I know she’s taking her $560K rertirement, but is Vic also supporting her off his $M real estate holdings on the Coast ? Actually his wife’s.
If you are going to discuss facts then mention that Cordell was initially hired to do an HR investigation and uncovered a lot more issues and concluded that Monaghan was retaliated against. Then Oppenheimer investigated Corpus’ false claim against Callagy and also found Monaghan retaliated against. Then Kekker was hired after Measure A and found Monaghan was retaliated against. The Civil Grand Jury in June found multiple wrong doings of CORPUS and also found Monaghan was retaliated against.
So Judge Emerson listened to 30+ witnesses and in limited time over 10 days, missed key pieces of evidence that were perhaps not presented or perhaps he was focused on Corpus false arrest of Tapia or perhaps there are just so many things that transpired. I can bet you the evidence is there and if these details need to be revealed in perhaps a trials, I bet the detail will be made.
But how is this relevant to returning to a job someone was falsely fired for and then reporting it this this way. The reporting was stellar for Corpus uncovering so much corruption. After all of these events, Monaghan is wanted back with open arms. Someone the Sheriff office needs to work there.
Monaghan deserves support. If you want open communication I agree with above poster… do better especially towards the people retaliated against for the past couple of years. Corpus tried to humiliate these people enough. Disappointed in the tone of this article and the somewhat questionable details included to try and create negative issues that don’t need to be there. Happy Holidays
It’s Keker, with two Ks, not Kekker with three Ks. If you’re correcting somebody, you might want to spell the words correctly. And, yes, the original story could have brought up the LaDoris Cordell report, but I think the reporter was only including relevant background. I mean she didn’t bring up Aenlle’s phony badge either. Or when Corpus brought her peeing dog into 330 Bradford. Yes, those things were part of the story, but not relevant to the rehiring of Monaghan. Not sure what your ax to grind might be. Maybe you’re closet Corpus supporter?
Interesting too how “Do Better” can’t cite anything specific she doesn’t like in the article, but complains about its “tone.” It’s impossible to have a debate over something’s “tone.” What do you argue about — how you felt when you read something? Sounds like something dumb our former sheriff have said.
Filling the Assistant Sheriff position overseeing the jails will be a huge step in the right direction. That vacancy was a glaring deficiency and failure on the part of the Victina administration. Promoting a Captain to the role is a smart move, since they have all spent considerable time in the jails and know them well, as opposed to bringing in an outside hire. This, along with brining back Monaghan, will be popular with the rank and file.