San Mateo County sheriff removal documents revealed

Notably included is Corpus’ transcribed testimony to Chief Probation Officer John Keene — who oversaw a pre-removal conference as a neutral hearing officer — which reflects one of the only public records of the sheriff defending herself. Corpus has repeatedly stated she was waiting for the “appropriate arena” to share her side of the story. 

“I’m dealing with individuals that just want to come after me for every single thing that I do when I try to hold people accountable and I’m being handcuffed because of the fact that they’ll throw that word … they’ll throw that retaliation word out there for me to be able to do my job effectively,” Corpus said, according to the transcript. 

Corpus is currently fighting to stay in her elected position as the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors move through its approved removal proceedings, most recently by requesting a temporary restraining order which would halt or at least slow the process.

On June 27, Corpus’ attorneys sought a temporary restraining order and included a pile of documents to support their argument, but did not request they be sealed. Contrarily, the San Mateo County Attorney’s Office filed its own slew of evidentiary documents, but did so under seal to align with what it believed was the sheriff’s request. 

Included on the public court records website are the formal notice of intent to remove Corpus, approved by supervisors, which documents an independent investigation by the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters. Exhibits related to the notice of intent, a transcript of the pre-removal conference held before Keene, and Keene’s recommendation are also included. 

The county clarified that its attorneys did not post confidential court records related to the sheriff’s removal, and they were made public by Corpus’ attorneys. 

The county’s civil grand jury also recently filed a formal accusation against Corpus alleging conflict of interest and three counts of retaliation. This process is entirely separate from that taken by supervisors.

The notice of intent is a 59-page document with 524 pages of evidence and 42 witness interviews. Included are the grounds warranting Corpus’ removal, including that she and Victor Aenlle, her former chief of staff, have a close personal relationship, “which they have taken steps to conceal.” 

Corpus’ affair

Rumors and anonymous testimonies have detailed such belief that Corpus was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Aenlle, who served on her campaign team, and then was hired onto her staff despite having no sworn officer training experience — though he is a reserve deputy. However, the notice of intent includes named sources.

Valerie Barnes, a civilian employee in the Sheriff’s Office, worked for Corpus when she led the Millbrae office and became close friends. Barnes was a key witness, identified as Civilian Employee #3, in a previous investigation into Corpus’ office conducted by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, providing the most detailed accounts of the two’s relationship. The Cordell investigation was criticized by members of the public and Corpus’ attorneys for being largely predicated on anonymous witness accounts.  

Barnes and other named witnesses, including those who worked with Aenlle on Corpus’ campaign and transition into office, felt a relationship between Corpus and Aenlle was apparent. Corpus’ former husband John Kovach also was aware of an affair, according to the notice of intent. 

Corpus went to extraordinary lengths to repeatedly request raises for Aenlle, despite Sheriff’s Office personnel and county staff questioning his qualifications, the notice of intent said.

In particular, Corpus’ request for a raise approval for Aenlle referred “15 years serving the Sheriff’s Office,” but “fails to note that this service consisted of part-time, volunteer reserve deputy service, as well as the short period of time when he was a full-time deputy candidate before failing the field training program,” the notice of intent reads. 

Union president arrest

The grounds for Corpus’ removal also includes the investigation into and arrest of Deputy Carlos Tapia, the president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association. 

Information included in the published documents details a concerning investigation into Tapia, who was ultimately arrested without warrant over alleged time card fraud the same morning a major investigation into Corpus’ office was to be released. Tapia was a key whistleblower against Corpus and the timing of the arrest had previously raised concerns of retaliation by supervisors. 

After Tapia and the deputies union began to publicly criticize Corpus in fall 2024, Corpus ordered former Acting Assistant Sheriff Matthew Fox to investigate how Tapia submitted his timecard hours, according to the notice of intent.

Not only did Corpus request this investigation be done internally, which did not follow standard policy, Corpus also “limited the scope of the investigation” by not giving Fox the full picture, according to the notice of intent. 

During Fox’s investigation into Tapia’s timecard records, he noticed that amid high tensions between the union and the Sheriff’s Office executive team in August 2024, Tapia began punching in a new code, according to the notice of intent. 

When Fox presented his findings, Corpus suggested to Fox that Tapia “changed his timecard practices at that time because he knew he would come under scrutiny given his increased public criticism of the Sheriff,” according to the notice of intent. 

However, Tapia was instructed to do so by human resources, which Corpus knew, according to the notice of intent.

According to Fox, through the notice of intent, neither Corpus nor anyone else from the executive team informed at any time during his investigation that Tapia was instructed to punch in a new code. 

By initiating and overseeing a “limited and therefore incomplete investigation of Deputy Tapia, Sheriff Corpus flagrantly neglected her duties as defined by law to preserve peace and investigate public offenses,” according to the notice of intent. 

Fox resigned from his position Nov. 14, two days after the Cordell report was published, and two days after Tapia was arrested. 

In the pre-removal conference in front of Keene, Corpus’ attorney Thomas Mazzucco read into the record an email sent to Corpus by Fox a couple weeks after he resigned. 

“I had to look out for my mental health and family concerns during my last month in office,” Mazzucco read from the email. “I’m sorry I couldn’t walk with you any more side by side, for that is my biggest regret in 26 years of law enforcement.” 

Corpus said in the pre-removal conference that she did not withhold or refuse to show Fox any documentation or evidence. 

Retaliation details

Multiple examples of retaliation at the hands of Corpus and Aenlle were detailed in the notice of intent. 

When former Capt. Rebecca Albin, who served as commander of the Coastside Patrol Bureau, was set to leave the Sheriff’s Office to take a position with another law enforcement agency, Albin posted her departure to the Half Moon Bay community on NextDoor. Albin posted two days prior to her final day. 

Shortly after her post, Albin was told that Corpus was upset over the post, and that her access to her work email and a law enforcement message system would be immediately revoked. When Albin went to her office to gather her things, she was escorted around the premises and followed by personnel, according to the notice of intent. 

Corpus then terminated Albin’s employment before her resignation was effective, which “may also have been motivated by animus directed against Capt. Albin’s religious background,” according to the notice of intent. 

Detective Jeff Morgan, who has worked for the Sheriff’s Office since 2017, recalled Corpus referring to Albin as a “Jew b—,” according to the notice of intent. 

The derogatory term to refer to Albin is one of multiple used by Corpus, as recalled by multiple witnesses, according to the notice of intent. Morgan and Barnes recall Corpus referring to her predecessor Carlos Bolanos as a “coconut” meaning “brown on the outside, white on the inside.” Barnes also recalled Corpus calling Bolanos the N-word, and a former Millbrae councilmember a “fuzzbumper,” or a derogatory term for lesbians. 

In the pre-removal conference, Corpus did not reference the derogatory language used, but did bring up her admiration for a retired history teacher “who happens to be a Jewish man,” as an inspiration for her “21st century policing” campaign. Corpus detailed her experience taking deputies on a program called the Sojourn Journey, which brings individuals to the South to “learn things that are not written in our history books.” 

Corpus said she felt the program was important but was criticized by captains for “trying to shove woke shit down people’s throats,” according to the pre-removal conference transcript. 

Corpus testimony

Much of Corpus’ testimony to Keene during the pre-removal conference was detailing her experience rising through the ranks of a Sheriff’s Office that, like many law enforcement agencies, was heavily run and led by white men. Corpus’ campaign for sheriff focused on reform and transparency, which made personnel unsettled by her proposed changes to the status quo, she argued. 

“You have to understand, I’m trying to give you some context as to what I’m dealing with right now and why I’m trying to change and why the resistance,” Corpus said, according to the transcript. “And the worst part about this, that there’s cops that are lying, people that are lying. That really bothers me ‘cause if they’re lying in this arena, what are they doing out when they’re serving our community members?” 

Corpus claimed anything she does to hold her staff accountable is misconstrued as retaliation, according to the transcript. 

“Individuals feel emboldened because they feel that they can go to the county executive and, you know, be protected by that individual,” Corpus said. “It’s made it really hard for me to hold anyone accountable. When I try to hold people accountable.”