San Mateo County Sheriff Facing Removal Takes the Stand in Her Own Defense

As San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus’ removal hearing opened this week at the Hall of Justice in Redwood City, the embattled leader again rejected allegations that she and her chief of staff shared a romantic relationship.

Corpus, who’s been accused of nepotism and abuse of power throughout her more than two years on the job, denied that she and her second-in-command Victor Aenlle had been romantically involved since her campaign, saying instead that he was “someone [she] trusted.”

”I am a 54-year-old woman and I hope I can date whoever I want as long as it’s a healthy relationship,” Corpus told retired Santa Clara County Judge James Emerson, who is overseeing the removal hearing, during her testimony on Monday.

On the stand, she said she was single.

The hearing opened Monday as part of the complicated removal process that began after San Mateo County supervisors unanimously voted to oust her in June — making history by being the first board in the state to vote to remove an elected sheriff from office. County voters approved a charter amendment in March, granting them the ability to remove her.

The hearing is expected to last two weeks, with five days for both Corpus’ defense team and county attorneys to make their cases to Emerson, who will issue the supervisors an advisory opinion based on the evidence presented. The board will then take its final vote on her removal.

In opening statements, the county painted Corpus as corrupt and vindictive — a portrayal that has gained momentum since allegations about misconduct first began during her campaign, then bubbled over after a bombshell 400-page investigative report in November found her leadership riddled with “lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority.”

Her defense plans to argue, though, that Corpus was targeted as an outsider looking to reform the “old boys’ club” that controls San Mateo County politics, led by longtime County Executive Officer Mike Callagy.

Former Undersheriff Christopher Hsiung, the first witness called to testify in the case, said that ever since Corpus recruited him for the role, Aenlle had been by her side. They first traveled to hear him speak at a leadership conference before offering him the job, Hsiung said.

Hsiung, who worked in Mountain View for nearly 30 years but began his law enforcement career in San Mateo, initially thought the role in Corpus’ administration could be “a unique opportunity … to bookend my career in San Mateo County.”

He said he believed in Corpus’ vision when Aenlle approached him with the offer in fall 2022.

But quickly, he said, Corpus became difficult to work with, and he noticed a less-than-professional relationship between her and Aenlle.

It was an “ongoing pattern [that] at meals that they would be sharing entrees,” he said. “They would order one and spit the dish.”

On the encrypted messaging app Signal, which Corpus’ team used to communicate, Hsiung said he noticed she and Aenlle would appear active and offline at the same time.

Jeffrey Kearnan, another former sheriff’s official who was part of Corpus’ transition team, testified after Hsiung that from the start of Corpus’ administration, Aenlle would commonly answer questions he directed to her, and on calls with Corpus, he would be on speakerphone.

“I knew they were together,” Kearnan said during testimony on Monday.

He alleged that on one occasion, he asked Corpus on a video call if she was alone. She said yes, but later in the call, he could see Aenlle in the reflection of the windshield on Corpus’ car.

“We had some concerns regarding what was happening with her and the amount of influence [Aenlle] had with her,” he said.

One of the linchpins in Corpus and Aenlle’s alleged relationship is a trip they took to Hawaii together in October 2022.

Kearnan said that after another former sheriff’s official saw the two boarding a flight from San Francisco to Maui, he pressed Corpus about the allegation. Shortly after, Aenlle called Kearnan, he said, and denied that he and Corpus took the trip together.

“When I pushed him, he admitted it,” Kearnan said. He said he left Corpus’ team shortly after, having given Aenlle an ultimatum that only one of the two of them could stay.

Callagy also terminated Aenlle’s position on Corpus’ transition team after he found out that the pair had a personal relationship. Callagy said at the time that if he’d known they were friends, he wouldn’t have approved Aenlle’s appointment in the first place.

But Corpus took office in January 2023, and Aenlle’s status in her administration grew. Heather Enders, human resources manager for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, was also called on to speak Monday, and said that Corpus approached her in March 2023 about a high-paying “special coordinator” role for Aenlle.

Corpus asked for Aenlle’s rate to be $118 per hour, and when the human resources office recommended a lower rate based on his experience, Corpus allegedly told Enders that “it wasn’t good enough” and that Aenlle had told her to “find a way to pay him more.”

In July 2023, he was hired as Corpus’ chief of staff, or formally, executive director — a new civilian position that appeared to replace one of the office’s assistant sheriffs.

Aenlle was the only applicant for that role, Enders testified, and according to the county’s bombshell November 2022 report, authored by retired Superior Court Judge LaDoris H. Cordell, it was never advertised.

When Corpus took the stand late in the day, she said she hired Aenlle because he was someone she could trust. To a civil grand jury, she had called him a “confidant,” but retracted the claim after being presented with the definition of the word, which suggests a confidant is a person you share secrets with.

“As the sheriff, you need to have people you can trust,” she told the court, appearing to allude to her former staff who were now testifying against her.

Corpus said Aenlle had come on the Hawaii trip to help care for her son, who has autism, and that they shared meals because she’s “not a big eater.”

She said she “was not” romantically involved with him, and told the judge she was single.

Corpus and her ex-husband were divorced in 2023. Kearnan alleged that her ex-husband said that they split because she was having an affair.

Corpus was expected to return to the stand on Tuesday.