BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus fired Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan on Friday after he confirmed he was interviewed by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, who is investigating the office, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller said.
The firing happened after Monaghan had been interviewed by Cordell, who is investigating multiple complaints by employees of the Sher-
iff’s Office, Mueller said. Cordell is now expanding her investigation to include whether Monaghan was fired in retaliation for speaking to Cordell, according to Mueller.
Mueller said the board of supervisors is prepared to take legal action if Monaghan was fired because he participated in Cordell’s investigation.
Mueller said the board will take legal action it needed to protect those interviewed in the investigation.
Corpus fired back, saying Mueller “should have the facts before weighing in on the subject.”
Corpus said that as sheriff, she decides who to hire and fire in the sheriff’s department.
Corpus’ most controversial hiring decision was picking former Coldwell Banker real estate agent Victor Aenlle to be her chief of staff and director of administration though he has never been a full-time deputy. Unions representing deputies and sergeants have filed a complaint with the Public Employee Relations Board accusing him of berating female employees, inserting himself into criminal investigations despite a lack of qualifications, and telling deputies to vote out their union board.
An unknown number of HR complaints have been filed against Aenlle, too. And last week, in an unprecedented move, 96% of union members voted in favor of no confidence against Aenlle.
Nonetheless, Corpus is defending Aenlle. She has decided to allow him to remain on the job during the Cordell investigation. Normally, officers are put on paid leave during an investigation.
Monaghan’s firing comes three months after former Undersheriff Chris Hsiung suddenly left the department on June 21.
Hsiung was replaced by former San Francisco Deputy Chief Dan Perea, the sheriff’s office announced in the same announcement as Hsi-
ung’s departure.
Hsiung and Monaghan, veterans of local law enforcement, both joined the sheriff’s office in Feburary 2023, one month after Corpus took the helm.
Hsiung came up through the ranks at Moun-
tain View Police before becoming chief in 2020.
Monaghan came up through the ranks of the San Mateo Police Department before becoming chief in Tiburon in 2021.
Deputys union President Carlos Tapia told the Post that after he found out about Monaghan’s firing, he gotten calls from people wondering if they were next.
“I can’t answer that question, I don’t know that,” Tapia said. “I would have to think that there has to come a point where the county has to come in and say enough is enough because this is madness.”
Tapia said that Monaghan has always been friendly toward the union and he is beginning to see a trend of people who are friendly to the union leaving for one reason or another.
“This is Victor, this is what he does,” Tapia said. “He isolates people, doesn’t include them in certain decisions and then eventually this is what he does.”
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