BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
A process server has had a difficult time serving court papers on fired San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus and her former chief of staff Victor Aenlle.
“This is all very strange. I cannot recall any other cases where a defendant attempted to evade service like Christina and Victor appear to be trying to evade it here. And it’s not going to get them anywhere,” said attorney Zak Franklin, who is representing Valerie Barnes, Corpus’s former assistant, in a civil suit.
For a civil suit to begin, the defendant needs to receive a notice about the case. The notice can be handed to the defendant by a process server, who is hired by the plaintiff’s lawyer, or by a deputy sheriff.
A process server tried to contact Corpus at her home in San Bruno over two weeks in April, but received no answer, even when all the lights were on and a BMW was in the driveway, according to court records.
A process server knocked on Corpus’s door on April 3 at 6:41 p.m., April 6 at 8:41 p.m., April 6 at 8:49 a.m., April 10 at 7:14 p.m., April 12 at 12:06 p.m. and April 14 at 5:04 p.m., according to court records.
Corpus claims she refused to open the door because she thought the process server had a gun, Franklin said he was told. Corpus felt that since the process server threatened to return, it constituted harassment, Corpus’s attorney, Wilson Leung said to Franklin, according to emails provided to the Post.
“We have no reason to believe that the process server had a gun. The suggestion that further attempting to serve Corpus with legal papers would constitute harassment is nonsense,” Franklin said.
Going forward, Leung has agreed to accept service on Corpus’ behalf.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors removed Corpus from office on Oct. 14 amid allegations of retaliation, misconduct and abuse of power, stemming from an alleged relationship with Aenlle.
A stake out
As for Aenlle, when the process server went to his door, only once did a woman answer out of six attempts, according to court documents.
The process server even attempted to stake out the bench outside a courtroom on April 17 from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. to see if Aenlle would show up in another case. Only two people entered who appeared to be lawyers, the process server wrote in his report.
“The male did not resemble Victor at all. But just to be sure I asked him and he confirmed he was not Victor,” the process server wrote.
Aenlle has not yet been served, only Corpus, Franklin said.
Barnes is suing the county, Corpus and Aenlle, claiming they were responsible for rumors about her sleeping with men who donated to Corpus’ campaign. Barnes also alleges that Corpus and Aenlle were in a romantic relationship.
Franklin said this was not the first time he has had difficulty getting Corpus to cooperate in the legal process.
Franklin represented former sheriff’s deputy and SWAT team member Carryn Barker, who accused the sheriff’s office of sexual harassment and received an $8 million settlement in 2024. Barker allegedly confided in Corpus about the harassment, but she resisted efforts by Franklin to get her to submit to a deposition. When it came time to take Corpus’ deposition, the county offered the settlement to end the case. The $8 million payout was a record for the county at the time.
Be the first to comment