A San Mateo County official on Thursday revealed an explosive memo addressed to embattled Sheriff Christina Corpus from second-in-command Dan Perea detailing an alleged scheme to hide weapons saved within the division’s government workplace.
The memo, dated Nov. 14, was despatched two days after the county disclosed a scathing impartial auditor’s report that claimed Victor Aenlle, Corpus’ former chief of employees, had improper entry to a few rifles with silencers. The report famous that since Aenlle is a civilian, possessing the rifles may very well be a felony offense.
Based on the memo, Aenlle instructed Undersheriff Perea to vary the code to a secure that Aenlle claimed contained three rifles.
“This is how they are going to get me,” Aenlle allegedly informed Perea.
Perea wrote that he refused to vary the code and documented the interplay the day that it occurred, noting a “San Mateo County investigation which included information related to these rifles.”
San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, together with Supervisor Noelia Corzo, has led requires Corpus to resign amid ongoing turmoil within the sheriff’s workplace. Throughout a press convention on Thursday, Mueller supplied extra particulars associated to the memo.
“Aenlle pushed for the executive team to have silencers for rifles even though Mr. Aenlle was prohibited from having access,” Mueller mentioned. “At the time the request was made, there was an active investigation taking place. The undersheriff states that Mr. Aenlle suggested the undersheriff send staff home early and change the code. (Perea) did not act on the request and told Aenlle to stop contacting him.”
The county auditor’s report, authored by retired decide LaDoris Cordell, discovered the Sheriff’s Workplace bought 220 rifles with silencers, which the division obtained about 4 months in the past. In September, a captain directed a sworn worker, unnamed within the report, to provide three silencer rifles to Corpus, Perea and then-Assistant Sheriff Matthew Fox, in accordance with the report.
The worker informed the captain that Aenlle shouldn’t have a rifle as a result of he was a civilian and that neither the Corpus, Perea nor Fox might lawfully possess the rifles as a result of they lacked the necessary coaching, in accordance with the report.
When the worker informed Aenlle that he shouldn’t have the rifle, Aenlle responded that it was advantageous as a result of he was a reserve deputy and had the suitable coaching, although the report discovered neither to be true.
On Oct. 8, the weapons had been delivered to the manager employees’s workplace space, the place a gun secure was bolted to the ground simply exterior Aenlle’s workplace, the report discovered. The sworn worker mentioned Aenlle inspected the weapons — labeled “Sheriff,” “Undersheriff” and “Assistant Sheriff” — and had the code to get contained in the secure.
“Aenlle has the code to the gun safe where the rifles are stored, and given his interest in securing the weapons, he now has easy access to the suppressed rifles,” Cordell wrote.
Final week, two days previous to the memo, Deputy Sheriffs Affiliation President Carlos Tapia was arrested on allegations of timecard fraud, and Cordell launched the scathing 400-page report discovering misconduct, corruption and office bullying had been occurring inside the division.
Mueller identified that 4 of the 5 captains who signed the memo had been promoted by Corpus throughout her tenure.
“I expect Sheriff Corpus, as she has in the last week, to claim she is fighting a conspiracy orchestrated by an ‘old boys’ network,” Mueller mentioned. “That they are staging a political coup. But when she says this, Sheriff Corpus is not being honest with the residents of San Mateo County.”
The captains’ calls for add to rising strain from sworn officers and officers at numerous ranges of presidency who accuse Corpus and her prime employees of abusing their energy and interesting in misconduct.
Captain Mark Myers, promoted by Corpus and is at the moment the San Carlos police chief, mentioned throughout Thursday’s press convention that the letter delivered to Corpus “speaks for itself.”
He emphasised the significance of “showing support for the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office who continue to show up to work and do a tremendous job every day under difficult circumstances.”
The Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the memo, and efforts to succeed in Perea had been unsuccessful.
On Wednesday, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors accepted a measure to carry a particular election subsequent 12 months that will briefly grant the board the authority to take away an elected sheriff from workplace till 2028, the tip of Corpus’ time period.
Workers reporter Jakob Rodgers contributed to this report.
Initially Revealed: November 21, 2024 at 5:24 PM PST
