BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
California Attorney General Rob Bonta says in a scathing letter that he won’t help fired San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus in her attempt to remove District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe from proceedings related to a civil grand jury’s accusation against her.
While Corpus has been fired, the civil grand jury has brought accusations — similar to charges — against the former sheriff. If Corpus is convicted of the accusations, she could never hold public office again.
Corpus’s attorney claims Wagstaffe’s office has a conflict of interest due to its dual role as administrator of the civil grand jury and as prosecutor.
Last year, Corpus asked Bonta to intervene “to stop an unlawful and dangerous abuse of power in San Mateo County,” before her firing. Supervisors fired Corpus on Oct. 14 for allegations of nepotism and retaliation. If she is found guilty in the civil grand jury case, she will be barred from holding public office ever again.
But Bonta said Corpus’s reasoning to remove the DA’s office is not genuine. Asking for another prosecutor is another tactic to delay a case or shop for a less aggressive prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Sharon Loughner wrote in a Jan. 30 filing.
This is the latest defeat in the litany of lawsuits Corpus has filed against various county officials in the attempt to reverse her firing or slow down civil grand jury proceedings.
In a case that she filed against the county’s board of supervisors in an attempt to halt its removal proceedings, the case was dismissed last month, with both sides agreeing that the case is over, according to court records.
The civil grand jury has filed four “accusations” against Corpus for failing to disclose her close relationship with her former chief of staff Victor Aenlle, for firing Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan after participating in an investigation into Corpus, reassigning former Capt. Brian Philip for refusing to start an internal affairs investigation into Sgt. Javier Acosta, brother to the sergeant’s union president Hector Acosta and for arresting deputy’s union president Carlos Tapia for alleged time card fraud. Wagstaffe’s office declined to file charges against Tapia.
Corpus claims that Wagstaffe is biased because he hired Monaghan after she fired him. Monaghan worked for the DA’s office from June 23 to Dec. 20 before returning to the sheriff’s office under new Sheriff Ken Binder.
Loughner said Corpus’s credibility is questionable because of her reason for firing Monaghan. Corpus fired Monaghan on Sept. 20, 2024, because she was disappointed in him and no longer trusted him after he sat for an interview with retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, who was investigating her and Aenlle, not because of his performance, according to Loughner.
Corpus has speculated in past court filings that Monaghan’s work in the DA’s office in the human trafficking operations creates a conflict, Loughner said. But since Monaghan did not participate in prosecutions and in fact, didn’t even work in the DA’s offices, he worked at the Redwood City Police Department’s offices, there is no conflict, according to Loughner.
Corpus also claims that Wagstaffe would be a witness in the case related to Tapia’s arrest, allegedly telling her after Tapia’s arrest that she had sufficient cause to arrest him at the time. But Wagstaffe was not involved in the decision to arrest Tapia, Loughner said. Corpus already decided to arrest Tapia before speaking to the DA’s office, according to Loughner.
A hearing is scheduled for March 5 where Judge Mark McCannon will decide if the DA’s office should be recused, according to court records.
Remember Dandy Don Meredith?
Turn out the lights, the party’s over.
Slither off Corpus and find out how fast your forever love drops you like a hot rock.
The ONLY corrupt abuse of power was committed by the most incompetent liar that is Corpus herself! She made her bed…she can now get comfy while the walls come crashing down around her! She deserves everything that is coming!
Another swing and a miss for Corpus and .000 batting average legal team!
Stop wasting your money on lawyers. It’s over. You can keep circling the block, but San Mateo County will never want you back. Go apply for ICE. If you play your cards right, the administration might even give you a plane with a mile-high club bed like Kristi Noem.
Now that she’s living off a lifelong pension and County paid family health insurance, why doesn’t she go retire in the South of France? Better schools, a better overall quality of life, and a higher standard of living there. Why waste another minute here?
After a brutally long road of tyranny, terror and corruption that plagued the Sheriff office; the fact that Corpus continues this legal battle is baffling. The unnecessary stress she caused to almost every employee in the county needs to be punished. People are recovering day by day yet the inevitable legal battles stretch on. My hope is to see next week put an end to some of these cases once and for all. She needs ro be put in her place and realize no one is above the law especially when they violate employees civil rights and don’t follow CA retaliation laws. She left a massive pile of work which leads me to believe she was paid to do a job since 2022 that she neglected and failed to do properly. The county should not allow her retirement to be earned after her Sheriff pay raise. She was fired, her retirement should in the very least be retroactively put back to her captain salary wage due to corruption and lack of work performance. Noone should be rewarded with full pay for being corrupt.
Let’s all hope to see and end to these bogus lawsuits next week on March 4th and March 5th and the Civil Grand Jury move forward… how could there be a conflict if the county has a right to charge county employees for wrong doing? That is how the civil grand jury works throughout California- the DA’s office investigates wrongdoing within the county. Proof continues to be in the pudding. Looking forward to putting these stressful chapters in the past and see some sort of justice for the impacted employees.
“She left a massive pile of work which leads me to believe she was paid to do a job since 2022 that she neglected and failed to do properly.”
This is the County-Way.
Most are not doing what tax payers are paying them to do.