San Mateo County Sheriff Is Ousted in Historic Final Vote by Supervisors

San Mateo County supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to remove first-term Sheriff Christina Corpus from office after a prolonged campaign to oust her.

The five-member board’s final decision followed two independent investigations into Corpus’ leadership and her relationship with her former Chief of Staff Victor Aenlle, a special election where voters overwhelmingly granted supervisors the authority to remove Corpus, a formal vote to remove her, 10 days of hearings and a retired judge’s finding that Corpus’ removal is warranted. The supervisors’ first vote to remove her in June marked the first time in state history that a board voted to remove a sheriff.

Some of those who voted against her Tuesday included her initial supporters, including Supervisors Ray Mueller and Noelia Corzo, who led the charge to remove Corpus, and Jackie Speier, who represented the area in Congress for 15 years before returning to the board.

“Today is the end of a tragic, destructive and grossly expensive chapter in San Mateo County history,” Speier said. “I had high hopes for Sheriff Corpus. I voted for her. I held a town hall with her on crime prevention. She had great ideas to modernize the office, so it’s tragic to see her time as sheriff come down to this.”

The board’s decision was effective immediately. The county said Undersheriff Dan Perea will temporarily act as sheriff, and supervisors have 30 days to fill the vacancy or call for a special election.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Corpus didn’t address the accusations against her but maintained that she was the victim of a conspiracy to take back control of the sheriff’s office.

“When they couldn’t control me, they decided to destroy me,” she said. “This is not justice. It’s political retribution.”

Public comment during the meeting was split between people who wanted Corpus gone and those who preferred an inspector general put in place for oversight of the office. Corpus received numerous compliments from residents of Half Moon Bay, where a mass shooting left seven dead in January 2023, shortly after she was sworn into office.

“Sheriff Corpus was elected by the people. If you wanted her removed, that would have been a recall. That is a constitutional right of Sheriff Corpus to remove by a recall, not by you,” said Joaquin Jimenez of Half Moon Bay. “We do not give you the power to do this.”

In her removal hearings in August, Corpus denied allegations that she and Aenlle had been romantically involved, saying instead that he was “someone [she] trusted.”

Retired Santa Clara County Judge James Emerson, who presided over those hearings, ultimately found Corpus’ denial of that relationship under oath resulted in her “lost credibility.”

Just a year and a half into Corpus’ first term, the county had received so many complaints about Aenlle that County Attorney John Nibbelin retained retired Judge LaDoris Cordell to conduct an independent fact-finding investigation into those allegations.

Cordell wrote in her 408-page report that “lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority are the hallmarks of the Corpus administration,” adding that Corpus should step down and Aenlle’s employment should be terminated immediately.

“Nothing short of new leadership can save this organization that is in turmoil, and its personnel demoralized,” Cordell found.

The day the report was made public in mid-November, the board took a vote of no confidence in Corpus and voted to terminate Aenlle’s unsworn position. Corpus refused to resign, and immediately promoted Aenlle to assistant sheriff — a position that county officials found, as a civilian, he wasn’t qualified to hold.

Earlier that day, deputies arrested Carlos Tapia, a vocal critic of Corpus and head of the deputies’ union, on allegations of timecard fraud. District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe ultimately threw the charges out, saying there was “no basis to believe any violation of law had occurred.”

Since then, other deputies — including Capt. Brian Philip, who refused orders to arrest Tapia — has filed lawsuits alleging continued intimidation from members of Corpus’ executive team. That includes high-ranking members whom Corpus recruited to join her office.

This spring, 84% of voters approved a temporary charter amendment that allowed the county to initiate the formal removal process of Corpus. This was possible because San Mateo County is one of California’s 14 charter counties — which have broader power for the election and removal of some municipal officers.

The process requires a four-fifths vote by the county board after providing the affected person with written notice and a chance to respond.

While other counties have gone through parts of that process — Los Angeles County in 2022 voted to use the authority but didn’t need to because then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva lost his reelection bid, and San Francisco supervisors didn’t get enough votes in 2012 to oust then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi — San Mateo County was the first to bring the issue to a vote and initiate the appeal hearings.

Corpus appealed the board’s decision, and 10 days of hearings were held before Emerson.

There was credible evidence, Emerson wrote in his opinion, that Corpus and Aenlle were “in a romantic extra-marital relationship preceding appellant Sheriff Corpus’s election to office and continuing thereafter.” Emerson also found that Corpus had Tapia arrested because of his protected activity as the head of the deputy union, and Corpus retaliated against Philips after he legally refused to arrest Tapia.

Following Emerson’s findings, Corpus tweeted a press release on Oct. 6 that she had reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, requesting he intervene in the removal proceedings, calling them “unconstitutional, corrupt, and fundamentally unfair.”

“If the removal process is allowed to proceed, no elected sheriff in California will be safe from political retaliation,” the release stated. “The danger isn’t just to me. It’s to the rule of law.”

In a letter dated Oct. 12, Bonta’s office declined to issue a legal ruling at Corpus’ request, citing her ongoing lawsuits in state and federal court. “Given the pendency of litigation that you have initiated on this same question, we respectfully decline your request,” wrote Marc Nolan, senior assistant attorney general.

Following Tuesday’s vote, there is no further option for her to appeal under the county’s charter amendment.

Corpus has publicly railed against the removal process, including filing a lawsuit to stop the proceedings, but a federal judge denied that request in August.

County spokesperson Effie Milionis Verducci said Corpus is likely to challenge her removal in court, but “the County is always prepared to take necessary and appropriate steps to ensure compliance with actions directed by the Board.”