Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz-Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Christina Corpus made history in 2023 when she became one of the first Latinas to head a sheriff’s office in the state of California. She was a career law enforcement official who worked her way through the ranks. And in 2022, she ran a successful campaign for San Mateo County Sheriff against her former boss who was dealing with a series of scams. Corpus promised transparency, accountability, and reform.
Christina Corpus [00:00:45] We did the unthinkable, you know, we unseated incumbents that were part of the status quo that had, you, know, a large war chest of money. There’s a lot of work to be done, but I’m ready for the challenge.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:01:00] Soon after, Corpus would become the subject of scandals herself. And she’d take center stage again in yet another historic vote, this time to remove her from elected office.
Jackie Speier [00:01:17] Today is the end of a tragic, destructive, and grossly expensive chapter in San Mateo County history.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:01:27] After a long, bitter process to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus from office, San Mateo County has begun a public process of finding its next sheriff. Today, why San Mateo County removed Sheriff Christina Corpus.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:01:57] Remind us what the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for. Like, how would you describe its role and its importance?
Brian Krans [00:02:06] Well, it’s a political law enforcement office, but if you live in an unincorporated area, that’s who’s going to respond when you call for help from the police.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:02:15] Brian Krans is a reporter for KQED.
Brian Krans [00:02:19] Another big thing that they do was issue concealed carry permits. And then a lot of it is just regular law enforcement things. So they’re also doing death investigations.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:02:29] And this story, of course, is going to center around Sheriff Christina Corpus. She first announced her run for sheriff in 2021. Can you remind me of her background and what she promised to bring to the sheriff’s office in San Mateo County?
Brian Krans [00:02:45] Yeah, she’s a career law enforcement official. She’s been in there a couple of decades. She worked her way through the ranks, started at the bottom and worked her up.
Newsreel [00:02:58] California will soon have its first two Latina sheriffs, and they will serve in the Bay Area. One is Christina Corpus, the sheriff-elect in San Mateo County, who overcame a big feat to unseal.
Brian Krans [00:03:08] Her predecessor had some scandals. She ran against him, and that’s often the case in sheriff’s departments. It’s somebody inside the department that runs against the sheriff. And she came in, she just promised, you know, transparency, accountability.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:03:22] Reform, change, she was a reform candidate.
Brian Krans [00:03:25] And that’s why they elected her.
Christina Corpus [00:03:28] Everyone in the beginning said, there’s no way you can do it. And that just really pushed me to work harder. I had some pushback, a lot of pushback. And I just had to learn how to overcome those obstacles that were put in front of me.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:03:45] And her campaign manager at the time is also a very important figure in this story, Victor Aenlle. Who is he and what’s his background?
Brian Krans [00:03:57] Victor Aenlle is largely a real estate agent. He was a reservist with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, so kind of like the posse if they needed to be called up. So he is no stranger to law enforcement, but he was not a sworn police officer. And then once she gets elected, it’s pretty evident that they’re pretty close.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:04:16] So, Sheriff Corpus is sworn in, in January 2023. What are her first few weeks and months on the job?
Brian Krans [00:04:26] The month she is sworn in, there’s a mass shooting at two farms in Half Moon Bay, so she’s thrown right into it.
Christina Corpus [00:04:34] Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here this morning. Again, I want to reiterate the tragedy that we experienced in our county yesterday in Half Moon Bay.
Brian Krans [00:04:45] Half Moon Bay is unincorporated, so it’s her jurisdiction. They’re her people. So she was like just front and center, had to oversee the investigation.
Christina Corpus [00:04:53] Suspect Chin Lu Zhao a 66 year old male resident is a resident of Half Moon Bay The semi-automatic handgun was legally purchased
Brian Krans [00:05:04] Evidence collection, obviously, again, corner, pick up the bodies and, you know, notify family members, all that, everything. It’s just a huge tragedy thrown right at her.
Christina Corpus [00:05:13] Again, I just wanted to give my condolences to the victims, the families, the co-workers and the coastal community who is suffering gravely.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:05:35] As Sheriff Corpus is responding to the Half Moon Bay shooting, something is burbling in the background at the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. Complaints start stacking up against Corpus and her former campaign manager, Victor Aenlle. There are rumors of an affair between the two. A few months earlier, a former sheriff’s department employee spots them at San Francisco International Airport, boarding a flight together to Maui. Then, there were complaints of preferential treatment after Corpus creates a new job in the Sheriff’s office, seemingly just for Victor Aenlle.
Brian Krans [00:06:22] Again, he’s not a sworn law enforcement officer, so she works to create a kind of a chief of staff position. And she goes to the county and just be like, hey, I wanna create this position. She doesn’t advertise it, only one person interviews for it, Victor Aenlle gets it, and in the background, she’s just like, he needs a raise, he needs to raise, he need to raise. And it’s starting to set off some alarm bells.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:06:42] So this is all sort of brewing under the surface. When does all of this sort of blow out into the open for Sheriff Corpus? All these allegations against her by people on her staff.
Brian Krans [00:06:55] It’s brewing in the background, but it didn’t really become public until last November. The county executive had hired a retired judge, retired judge Ladoris Cordell, like, all right, we’re going to do an outside independent investigation. She’s done investigations under the other law enforcement agencies, and so she starts asking around everybody about these complaints. Judge Cordell is talking to people, obviously, who have complaints through the county’s complaint system. She’s interviewing dozens of people. She’s bringing in captains, just anyone who has a general concern about how Sheriff Corpus is running her office.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:07:35] But notably, Sheriff Corpus herself was not interviewed for this report, right?
Brian Krans [00:07:39] Judge Cordell noted in her report that she gave her the option and the sheriff declined to be interviewed for it. Retired Judge Ladoris Cordell releases this 408 page report and the county convenes a press conference and they have an actual meeting to address the report immediately.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:08:04] Hours before the report is expected to be released to the public, even more chaos is unfolding in the background of the sheriff’s office. Christina Corpus orders one of her employees to arrest the president of the deputy sheriff’s union, who’d become a vocal critic of Corpus on accusations of timecard fraud. Raising even more eyebrows around corpus’ conduct.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:08:37] And the presumption there was that he was being retaliated against for being a vocal critic of Sheriff Corpus because these charges against him were eventually dropped, right?
Brian Krans [00:08:50] Yeah. Instantly alleged that it was political retribution, to have a sheriff, to think a leader would use their power to politically prosecute someone in America. That’s something that we should all pay attention to, and that’s basically what it boiled down to, that everybody around it saw as like, this is political retribution.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:09] So then the report is released. Everything is sort of on the table at this point. What are some of the key findings of the investigation?
Brian Krans [00:09:20] First and foremost, there is the idea that there is enough evidence support that Christina Corpus and Victor Aenlle were in a relationship outside the typical professional boundaries. Some would say it’s romantic. They denied it up and down the board. Favoritism, nepotism, and it’s just overall just a really, really unprofessional environment for law enforcement.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:42] And one of the key sort of examples of that is the findings around preferential treatment that she gave to Victor Inj regarding his position, right? Can you tell me a little bit more about what Judge Cordell found on that front?
Brian Krans [00:10:00] So Corpus created a job called executive director of administration that paid nearly $247,000 a year. No one else applied for the job and it wasn’t even made public. Then she requested that he get raises like three times kind of gave him carte blanche control. And then others were just noticing how they were acting in unison to one another. And, you know, he’s not a sworn officer and he’s now elected, but he has this great deal of control. That’s going to rub a lot of people the wrong way.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:10:33] The report contains several more allegations and findings. In one case, Judge Cordell says that Sheriff Corpus fired a deputy for cooperating with the investigation. In another, the report says Victor Inj had been exercising broad and abusive power after Corpus placed him at the top of the chain of command. Cordell writes, quote, Lies, secrecy, intimidation, conflicts of interest. And abuse of authority are hallmarks of the Corpus administration. Sheriff Corpus should resign, and Victor INJ’s employment with the Sheriff’s Office should be terminated immediately.”.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:11:21] What are the reactions to the investigation?
Brian Krans [00:11:25] I think the big thing in this is a lot of people that really supported Sheriff Corpus in her run, they’re not denying it. There’s just enough evidence that the report is thorough enough, Judge Cordell is respected enough that just started the tide of what would begin her removal.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:11:50] Coming up, San Mateo County’s historic and drawn-out effort to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus. Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:12:16] There are calls for her to resign at this meeting, right?
Brian Krans [00:12:19] Immediately, they held this meeting where they held a vote of no confidence and the sheriff eliminated Victor Aenlle’s job.
Supervisor Corzo [00:12:29] What does our community gain from this scandal? Does it make us more safe? No, in no way.
Brian Krans [00:12:35] One of the first people to request that Corpus resign is Supervisor Noelia Corzo.
Supervisor Corzo [00:12:40] I want to be clear, I’m not here to demonize our sheriff. I care about her as a human, as a mother, as woman, and yes, as Latina.
Brian Krans [00:12:51] She absolutely was one of those people that saw her rise to the office as a good thing. She is sad and disappointed.
Supervisor Corzo [00:12:57] Since January of 2023, 106 sworn staff members have left the sheriff’s office, including some of the most experienced and well-respected members of the executive team who she personally hired. She is the most powerful person in the sheriff office, the top law enforcement agency in this county, and she needs to be held accountable.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:13:25] And Sheriff Corpus also shows up at this meeting, right? What does she go there to say?
Brian Krans [00:13:30] They began the process of offering her, allowing her to speak. You know, they noted she didn’t want to be interviewed for the Cordell investigation, so they were like, hey, say your piece.
[00:13:41] Why don’t we take the public comment. Christina, Sheriff Corpus.
Brian Krans [00:13:46] She just went up to the podium. Condemned the board.
Christina Corpus [00:13:49] Good afternoon. What has happened the last few days is disgusting. I will not allow the board to threaten me and attempt to fire my chief of staff without cause. This inquiry was politically motivated and one-sided, it was filled with lies.
Brian Krans [00:14:11] So then she immediately appoints him to a sworn position, which the county attorney was basically like, yeah, he can’t have this office. You and I can’t just go into a sworn police officer position.
Christina Corpus [00:14:22] That is why effective immediately I’m appointing Dr. Victor Injay to the position of assistant sheriff. I am the sheriff of this county. I answer to the people of San Mateo County who elected me, I will not be bullied.
[00:14:37] Sheriff Corpus, will you agree to sit for sworn testimony in front of Judge Cordell? Sheriff Corpus. All right, thank you to all those who shared.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:14:48] She’s not backing down.
Brian Krans [00:14:49] No, no, not at any point in this process does she back down.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:14:53] What about Victor Aenlle? Does he say anything about the things found in the investigation and this report?
Brian Krans [00:15:02] Yeah, that was a big issue. They really attacked the report. He spoke to ABC7 about the Cordell report and he basically just denied that it was valid.
Victor Aenlle [00:15:11] Obviously it doesn’t feel good, it’s disappointing. I think the people that are there know the truth and know what’s been done to this point.
Brian Krans [00:15:22] Corpus and Aenlle were very bitter against the whole process. They were basically casting us like, hey, you know, these are just anonymous sources that are just saying whatever they feel like, and they’re really just trying to get in our way to try to reform the department.
Interviewer [00:15:35] Those 40 people Judge Cordell interviewed. Are you saying that most of those are supporters of the former sheriff Bolanos?
Victor Aenlle [00:15:44] Absolutely, I’m saying that. And a few of them are just scared for their job because if you don’t kiss the ring in this county, they will push you out.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:15:52] I mean, this is a lot of stuff, Brian, a very damning report, a vote of no confidence from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, but then of course you, you have Sheriff Corpus and Victor Aenlle really doubling down. So what does the San Matteo County board of supervisors do in order to remove the sheriff that they voted no confidence in?
Brian Krans [00:16:16] You know, you can say like, hey, we don’t like the job you’re doing. And she can just say right back to the board, I don’t work for you. I work for the voters. I’m an elected law enforcement official. We’ve seen numerous times of mayors fire police chiefs, but that’s not the case with the sheriff. They’re elected. The board was essentially going to put it to the voters in one of two ways. They’re going to do a typical recall where you just put on the ballot and say, should we recall the sheriff? Seen that happen a whole bunch in the barrier lately. Then the other one, we go to the voter’s in another way and say, hey. Do you want to give the Board of Supervisors the authority to remove an elected sheriff, which has not happened before in state history? So that’s where we got Measure A.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:17:00] Earlier this spring, San Mateo County held a special election on Measure A, asking voters to give the Board of Supervisors the temporary power to remove an elected sheriff. A long list of congresspeople, mayors, and former supporters of Corpus urged voters to pass Measure A. 84% of voters granted the board that power. Initiating a formal process to remove Sheriff Corpus from office.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:17:37] And the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted once in June and again in October on this question of should we fire Sheriff Christina Corpus? What about public comment, Brian? Like what were we hearing from residents of San Mateo County about, how they were feeling about all of this?
Brian Krans [00:18:01] A lot of this has been going on for a year, so a lot of people that we’re talking, can we just end this? Can we get some function back in here?
Public comment [00:18:08] So Sheriff Corpus, because this will likely be the last time you’re called Sheriff, stop fighting this. The voters decided the board did not lower the bar. You did.
Brian Krans [00:18:19] And then again, there were other people saying like, hey, you know, I’m a resident of Half Moon Bay. Corpus did a really good job of actually reaching out to the community.
Public comment [00:18:27] And I would like to say some kind words about our Sheriff Christina Corpus. She’s made a big impact on my son’s life in our community, especially our low income and our Hispanic community.
Brian Krans [00:18:41] It wasn’t just like this clear landslide of people just slinging mud at her. There were people who did support her.
Public comment [00:18:47] Do not do what you shouldn’t do to remove your duly elected sheriff who is delivering measurable improvements you’ve heard of it, a woman of faith, and this most courageous woman that I’ve seen lead our sheriff’s department to a different place.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:19:03] What did they decide?
Brian Krans [00:19:04] They voted unanimously, five out of five, both times. The first one was the official vote. But it didn’t really do anything. Corpus wasn’t immediately removed from office because it’s not a civil thing. It’s not criminal thing. It’s kind of this like vague nowhere zone, but built in it, it gave Corpus the ability to appeal. We all went to a courtroom and there were 10 days of testimony and evidence presented to determine whether or not there was cause to remove Sherriff.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:19:31] Wow, so even more evidence of what was already found in the Cordell report.
Brian Krans [00:19:36] Yeah, it wasn’t just like a process where it’s like, oh, we asked a couple people we don’t like you. They were thorough.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:19:40] What about Sheriff Christina Corpus herself? Did she say anything new at this meeting?
Christina Corpus [00:19:47] Good morning, voters of San Mateo County. I stand before you not just as the Sheriff of San Mateo county, but as a woman of faith.
Brian Krans [00:19:56] From the very beginning, Corpus has denied everything. She just basically said she’s being a she’s a victim of the Old Boys Club that, you know, she was elected to root out.
Christina Corpus [00:20:06] I was the first woman in the history of San Mateo County to have the courage to stand up against the old guard. This board, the county executive, and the county attorney have become judge, jury, and executioner based on a deeply, deeply flawed hearsay-filled report that could never survive a day in court.
Brian Krans [00:20:29] She addressed the process, the system, the politics. But in terms of her last public statements as the sworn in sheriff, there was nothing really addressing the actual issues.
Christina Corpus [00:20:40] History will not remember those who yielded to fear. It will remember those who stood alone when standing alone was the only moral choice left. May God give you strength to choose good over evil, truth over comfort, and courage over power.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:21:00] So what was the result of this meeting?
Brian Krans [00:21:03] There was another 5 out of 5 vote to remove her.
Jackie Speier [00:21:07] Today is the end of a tragic, destructive, and grossly expensive chapter in San Mateo.
Brian Krans [00:21:15] This time around, Jackie Speier, who’s now back on the board of supervisors, and she was the first person to say, yeah, I’m going to vote you out.
Jackie Speier [00:21:23] In my view, Sheriff Corpus lost her sense of purpose and put Mr. INJ above the vocal opposition to him among the ranks of her deputies and in so doing, permanently damaged her relationship with those she was charged to lead. It’s a tragedy.
Brian Krans [00:21:51] The vote automatically ended her sheriff, but she needed to be served in the mail. So by the time, before that letter could get to her office, she allegedly resigned. So she still gets to keep her pension, her insurance for her kids. Regardless, this was the first time in California history that an elected board voted to remove an elected sheriff.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:22:13] I mean, Brian, what has this whole story, this whole saga, which just seems like it’s really dragged out, what has it all meant for the sheriff’s office since Christina Corpus took office more than two and a half years ago?
Brian Krans [00:22:30] There were a lot of resignations, even people who were not at retirement stage to collect their full pension. And meanwhile, they still have to provide services to people. Right. You know, you call 911, you need a sheriff’s deputy to show up. Well, we have fewer of those now. There’s fewer people in the chain of command. And that’s what law enforcement is built on, the chain command. All of a sudden, I don’t have a captain now. You know, they’re going to get a new sheriff one way or another. Um, but it’s kind of like this vacuum. It’s kind a shell of what it was. There’s very few command staff. So it’s just really confusing for a lot of people.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:23:11] Yeah, it seems like there’s a big question of how you move forward from something like this.
Brian Krans [00:23:17] Yeah, I guess if I was in that office, I would be wondering, how do we prevent this from happening again? You know, we’ve experienced in a whole bunch of different communities where there’s that trust in law enforcement of just being like, I need help. Is calling 911 going to make it better or worse? And yeah, I think this probably overall casts some doubt into like how effective calling the Sheriff’s Department would be.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:23:55] Well, Brian, thank you so much for for walking me through all of this and sharing your reporting with us. I appreciate it.
