Redwood City — The following is a statement from the County of San Mateo in response to a $10 million government claim filed by Sheriff Christina Corpus. The statement also addresses an allegation in the claim regarding allegedly missing transcript pages in an exhibit to the independent report and the cost of the investigation.
The Claim
The San Mateo County Attorney’s Office is aware of the government claim filed by Sheriff Christina Corpus against the County. The filing of a government claim is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit and Corpus seeks $10 million.
The assertions in Corpus’ claim that she has been discriminated against, harassed and defamed, and more so, because she is both a woman and a Latin X person, are completely baseless and a distraction from the issues that give rise to the present circumstances.
The government claim, which includes wrong and misspelled names — including that of the sheriff herself and Supervisor Noelia Corzo — is largely devoid of any alleged facts supporting its conclusions and egregiously accuses Judge LaDoris Cordell of partaking in what the claim calls an “evil scheme”. Cordell is a highly respected former judicial official with decades of public service, including in ensuring law enforcement accountability. As an independent investigator, she alone determined how she conducted the investigation.
The Transcript
The entirety of the transcript of Cordell’s interview of Victor Aenlle has been uploaded to the County’s website. In the initial release of Cordell’s report, all pages of the transcript of this interview that Cordell cited or relied upon in her report were included as part of an exhibit to the report. Twenty-nine pages of the transcript were not included in the exhibit because they were not cited by Cordell nor were they material to the report. There was nothing nefarious about these pages not having been included in the exhibit but, given the interest in them, as mentioned, they are now available on the County’s website.
The Cost
With respect to the cost of the investigation, Cordell was contracted to conduct the investigation at the rate of $750 per hour and the investigation and associated report cost approximately $200,000 to complete. This is in line with both the cost of a complex and sensitive investigation of this nature as well as the level of experience, expertise and unique qualifications that Cordell brought to the matter. The cost also speaks to the large number of witnesses Cordell interviewed — 40 current and past employees — and the extensive time taken to assess the veracity of the large number of complaints that Cordell reviewed.
Michelle Durand
Chief Communications Officer
mdurand@smcgov.org