Removal Hearings Against Embattled San Mateo County Sheriff Begin on Monday

Formal hearings against embattled San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus began Monday, as county leaders navigate the uncharted waters of removing an elected sheriff from office.

The public hearings will be held in a Redwood City courtroom before retired Judge James Emerson, who Corpus picked out of three candidates for the hearings that are expected to last 10 days.

Corpus — who has denied any wrongdoing and claimed to be the victim of political persecution — will have an opportunity to provide witnesses and evidence in her defense. Part of her legal team includes Tom Perez, former U.S. Labor Secretary under President Joe Biden.

Corpus recently attempted to appeal the board’s vote and halt the removal process, saying it violated her constitutional rights. Last week, a judge denied that request, clearing the way for the hearings to begin.

Questions about Corpus’ leadership began emerging last year, when county officials say they received an “unprecedented” number of complaints about Corpus’ civilian second-in-command and alleged lover, Victor Aenlle.

The county hired retired Judge LaDoris Cordell to conduct an independent investigation, and her report, published in November, sustained several findings against Corpus, including that Corpus’ leadership was beset with “lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority.”

The day that the report was released, Corpus’s office directed deputies to arrest Carlos Tapia, the head of the deputies’ union and a vocal critic of Corpus, on suspicion of time card fraud. San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe would determine Tapia “should not have been arrested” because “there was no basis to believe any violation of law had occurred.”

That week, the board took a vote of no confidence in Corpus. At the meeting, supervisors voted to eliminate Aenlle’s Executive Director position, but Corpus told the board she was immediately promoting Aenlle to assistant sheriff. Aenlle is still listed on the department’s leadership web page as “Executive Director of Administration / Chief of Staff.”

Despite mounting calls for Corpus to resign from local, state and federal lawmakers — many of whom were previously Corpus’ supporters — she remained steadfast. Most of Corpus’ leadership team left, along with dozens of employees who didn’t have enough years in to retire at their full pensions.

San Mateo officials used their abilities as a charter county to opt to remove Corpus through an amendment that required a four-fifths vote from the board. In a March special election, 84% of county voters granted supervisors that authority.

Since then, a pre-removal conference was held with Corpus behind closed doors. Following that, county leaders said the chief probation officer found her removal was warranted and made that recommendation to the board.

Along with Cordell’s expansive report, an investigation by law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters — which included 524 pages of documentary evidence and 42 witness interviews — concluded that Corpus not only engaged in “flagrant and repeated neglect of the sheriff’s duties” but also obstructed an investigation into her conduct.

County supervisors voted 5–0 in June to begin the formal removal of Corpus, making history by being the first board in the state to vote to remove an elected sheriff from office.

Los Angeles County voters gave supervisors the authority to remove then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva in 2022, but the board didn’t need to use it as he lost reelection to a primary challenger. San Francisco’s board brought then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to a vote of potential removal in 2012, but not enough supervisors voted to do so.

Following the evidentiary hearings, Emerson is required to submit his opinion to supervisors within 45 days of the hearings’ completion.

After that, the board has 30 days to act on the judge’s advisory opinion, according to County Attorney John D. Nibbelin.