San Mateo County supervisor to release 'key updates' in Sheriff Christina Corpus investigation

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - A San Mateo County supervisor behind the effort to hold a special election to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus from office has planned a press conference for Thursday to update the public on the scathing allegations against the embattled sheriff. 

On Tuesday, the board of supervisors unanimously approved a proposal to place a measure on the March ballot asking voters to amend the county charter to allow the board to remove a sheriff with cause with a four-fifths vote.

District 3 Supervisor Ray Mueller and District 2 Supervisor Noelia Corzo brought the proposal before the board.

Mueller has now called a press conference for Thursday to share "several significant updates to the independent investigation and report" about allegations against the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.   

His proposal for the special election came a week after a scathing independent investigatory report accused Corpus of having an improper work romance and for using racial and homophobic slurs.

In the report, San Mateo County Judge LaDoris Cordell said, "Lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority are all the hallmarks of the Corpus administration. Corpus should step down and Victor Aenlle's employment with the Sheriff's Office should be terminated immediately. Nothing short of new leadership can save this organization that is in turmoil, and its personnel demoralized."  

Corpus' alleged boyfriend, Victor Aenlle, was previously the department's chief of staff, and has been elevated to assistant sheriff.

Corpus has denied the relationship, though county supervisors say the report alleges that the relationship has existed since 2021. 

Mueller called on the board to act quickly, saying "the case against the sheriff continues to get stronger." He said that the county received forensic confirmation that homophobic slurs attributed to the sheriff in the report were in fact sent from Corpus’s phone. 

The pressure has been mounting for the sheriff to resign.

On Monday, a group of lawmakers in the South Bay issued a collective statement calling for her to quit. 

"The turmoil that is engulfing the Sheriff’s Office is continuing to damage the organization," the lawmakers said. "Our community deserves trustworthy, ethical and collaborative leaders – especially from those who are sworn to protect us and uphold the law," Rep. Kevin Mullin, Rep. Anna Eshoo, California Senator Josh Becker, Assemblymember Marc Berman and Assemblymember Diane Papan said in their statement. 

SEE ALSO: San Mateo County assistant sheriff resigns amid department turmoil

The sheriff has denied the allegations against her and said that she is not stepping down.  

In a statement on Tuesday, Corpus said the supervisors' vote was "wrongheaded and anti-democratic."

She said, in part, "It is a mean-spirited political scheme. This charter amendment with sunset language that only applies to me is an effort to go around the voters to try to unseat me. I will fight it tooth and nail. I am not going anywhere… If you want a Sheriff out, you hold a recall. This is a blatant attempt to go around the voters. They don’t want a recall vote because they know they will lose."

The board of supervisors must hold a second public vote on the proposed ordinance at its meeting on Dec. 3.

Mueller's press conference is being held at 1 p.m. in Redwood City in the board of supervisors' chambers.