Former San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus has filed a claim against the County of San Mateo, asserting that she was removed from office due to a defamation campaign against her.
“Sheriff Corpus was not removed from her position as sheriff because of misconduct,” said her attorney, James Quadra, in a written statement. “She was removed because of lies that were manufactured and repeated until they achieved their intended goal of nullifying the will of the voters.”
(Read her lawyer’s statement.)
Corpus’ claim, filed Friday, starts a six-month clock. During that period, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors — the same five-member body that fired Corpus — will decide whether to pay her claim. If the supervisors reject the claim, Corpus can file a lawsuit against the county in Superior Court.
On Oct. 14, the Board of Supervisors removed Corpus. For more than a year, her office was mired in allegations of retaliation, misconduct, nepotism and abuse of power, largely stemming from an alleged relationship with her former chief of staff, Victor Aenlle.
The supervisors voted to fire Corpus after a 10-day hearing where she was given the opportunity to rebut the allegations against her.
Retired Superior Court Judge James Emerson, who presided over the hearing, found that Corpus had “a close personal relationship outside the boundaries of a professional working relationship” with a subordinate, unlawfully ordered the arrest of the president of the sheriff’s deputies’ union and retaliated against a captain who refused to arrest the union president because he believed it violated state law.
In her claim, Corpus said several county supervisors and employees falsely portrayed her as “dishonest, corrupt, engaged in misconduct, subject to conflicts of interest, and unfit to serve as sheriff.”
In the claim, Corpus says she was discriminated against because she is Hispanic and a woman.
When she became sheriff in 2023, Corpus said she attempted to reorganize the sheriff’s command staff, enforced discipline, ended certain overtime practices and implemented other reforms. “In response, county employees engaged in baseless conduct undermining her authority, questioning her competence, and exploring her replacement despite no conduct that merited her removal from office,” Corpus said in her claim. “This conduct was motivated not only because of Claimant Corpus’s reforms, but also by animus against Claimant Corpus’ gender and ethnicity/race, and was designed to preserve the status quo of white male control over the Sheriff’s Office.”
In January 2025, Corpus filed a similar claim against the county, alleging harassment and discrimination. The Board of Supervisors denied the claim.
At the time, the county issued a reply to the claim, saying her assertions were “completely baseless” and “devoid of any alleged facts supporting its conclusions.”
In retirement, Corpus will get $402,338.28 a year in pension and health care benefits in her retirement.
Corpus was replaced by Ken Binder, who had been the undersheriff in Santa Clara County, the No. 2 position to Sheriff Robert Jonsen.
Her claim names 32 people who she says contributed to her damages, including the hearing officer, retired Judge James Emerson. The list doesn’t explain how each person supposedly damaged her, however.
Others on the list are past and current supervisors, including David Pine, Warren Slocum, Noelia Corzo, Jackie Speier, Raymond Mueller, Lisa Gauthier and David Canepa.
Her former staffers made the list including Richard Cheechov, David Weidner, Ryan Monaghan, Carlos Tapia, Valerie Barnes, Hector Acosta, Christopher Hsiung, Jonathan Sebring, Mark Myers, Frank Dal Porto, Joseph Fava, Brandon Hensel, Jennifer Valdez and Jimmy Chan.
She names County Manager Mike Callagy, County Counsel John Nibbelin, Chief Probation Officer John Keene, HR chief Rocio Kiryczun, and the new sheriff, Ken Binder.
She put on the list retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, who did the initial report that identified problems in the sheriff’s office.
None of the 32 are defendants, just people she identified as individuals who contributed to her troubles.
How many claims and lawsuits is she allowed to file?
Ohhh my Gawd. What a delusional POS… there is so much evidence supported in court documents and testimony. Corpus openly admitted to being friends and traveling with the relator.
File the criminal case already Wagstaffe! Stop this crazy lunatic from wasting time and money.
Corpus you are getting paid FULL PAY WND BENEFITS and have time at home with your family – why waste your time with all of this nonsense and craziness. One person is telling the truth and 50+ respected employees are lying because – they are men, they got hired to work for her, they supported her !!! Where is her so called evidence of this good ole boys club cult nonsense- SHE HIRED THESE MAJORITY of these people and single handedly DESTROYED herself with her bad choices.
This only sounds like someone stuck in their house trying to manipulate a story to convince herself that her story has any absolute rational truth to it. Move on.
And you know what- she could have stepped down in 2024 instead of filing a FALSE sexual harassment case, FALSELY arresting a union representative, violating civil rights of employees etc etc etc
29 pages of irrelevant notes that WERE made public there is a website with the redacted notes with no meaning.
Corpus just wants to keep herself in the spotlight and keep the county wasting resources on fake claims and lawsuits.
Just do it- file the criminal charges! Finish the civil grand jury trial. Get Corpus banned from being a CORRUPT elected official EVER!
This reaction right here is what makes this sick woman continue- she wants to get under your skin- DON’T let her. The biggest win is sitting peacefully, living an honest life while she stays fired at home miserable.
Yes, it was somebody else’s fault. Somebody forced her to fire Carlos Tapia. Somebody forced her to hire an unqualified chief of staff. Somebody forced her to put out a misleading news release saying she had reduced crime. She did none of this of her own will. It was somebody else’s fault.
Here I sit, so broken hearted
I tried to be sheriff
But now I’ve departed
Out of the pan and into the fire
Nobody knew I am such a big liar
In many a scandal, I found myself mired
But little Vicky and me
Got ourselves fired
I spend my time angry and suing
For things that were
My very own doing
My anger and vengeance rage unbridled
But the fact really is
I feel I’m entitled
I’ve burned all my bridges
A feat without pale
I better get ready
Cuz tiny Vicky and me are going to jail
Oh my – what planet is this delusional basket case living on? Christy – shut up, sit down, and stay home. The grown-ups are conducting law enforcement now. Just sit back and enjoy your taxpayer funded Xanax and Chardonnay. But maybe you’re enjoying it all TOO much, which would explain your lack of connection to the real world, where you were lawfully fired with all due process for being a criminally vindictive bully who allowed your pint-sized paramore, Mini Vicky, to run roughshod over the Department that you practically ruined. Mr. DA Wagstaffe – PLEASE put Christina out of our misery – and San Mateo County’s pockets – and file the criminal charges we all know should be coming! Enough with the waiting around already…
Enough!!! This incompetent, psychotic, delusional criminal needs to be held accountable for HER actions. She violated policy, procedure, THE LAW and committed Civil Rights Violations against her own employees. P.O.S.T suspended her as it was crystal clear. It is time for her to be held criminally liable for what she did! I am sick and tired of her non stop nonsense and noise. Go away once and for all! Corpus and little Vicky are a complete joke!!!
How much more money will she steal? She should be charged will impersonating a law enforcement officer.
And she needs to eat a cheeseburger….
Defamation is hard to prove. A defendant automatically wins if the statement that was supposedly defamatory is the truth. She ought to take her fat pension and lie low. She’ll need all that money to defend herself in the upcoming criminal and civil grand jury cases.
Just go away, will ya ? It was not enough to destroy the Office, not enough to take your $500K “retirement”, not enough to dodge a civil complaint (not quite clear that wont come back to haunt her) ? So now you need more. I see what this is, it’s a 3rd rate junior woodchuck atty, trying to make his name, for a 4th rate ex Sheriff. Ask only one question please, who is paying for this ? I’d bet you it is a contingency case (aka a loser atty) with a $5k retainer before he goes out on another ADA restaurant wheelchair case. Cant she just go AWAY ?