San Mateo County sheriff investigates captains

On Monday and Tuesday, captains William Fogarty, Frank Dal Porto and Mark Myers were served with notices that they were under investigation for alleged misconduct, and would be investigated by an external agency. They have not been placed on administrative leave.

The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to request for comment. Corpus has said previously that keeping her staff accountable is not retaliation. 

Corpus is under extreme scrutiny for alleged misconduct and neglect of her duty as the elected sheriff of San Mateo County. 

The Board of Supervisors is awaiting a formal recommendation from retired Judge James Emerson, who served as the hearing officer who presided over a removal hearing in August, as to whether she should be removed from office. The county’s civil grand jury is also pursuing her removal over alleged three counts of retaliation and one count of conflict of interest. 

The scandal surrounding the Sheriff’s Office has plagued the county for more than a year, and most sworn personnel have asked for her resignation. 

During the removal hearing in August, the captains were brought up repeatedly, and were described by Corpus’ attorneys as defiant subordinates who undermined the sheriff’s authority. 

Corpus has said that Fogarty, Dal Porto and Myers approached her to ask for her resignation, and called the group gang-like. The sheriff also recalled an instance when the three captains approached Undersheriff Dan Perea, and Dal Porto asked Perea if he had been drinking on the job, Corpus said. 

When Perea was asked to take the stand, he testified that he was drug tested shortly after the interaction to prove he hadn’t been drinking. 

None of the captains were called to the stand during the August removal hearing as witnesses.