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San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus’ right-hand-man, Undersheriff Dan Perea, and County Executive Officer Mike Callagy testified on Wednesday, Aug. 27, in the hearing on Corpus’ removal, contradicting the testimonies of previous witnesses.
The 10-day hearing is part of the county’s process to oust Corpus, who remains defiant against calls for her resignation following the release of a county-commissioned investigation conducted by retired judge LaDoris Cordell. The 400-page report accused Corpus of having a romantic relationship with her chief of staff, Victor Aenlle, and that the pair fostered a culture of intimidation and retaliation in the Sheriff’s Office.
Since Tuesday, Corpus’ attorneys have had their turn to call witnesses to testify. Her legal team decided to put Perea and Callagy on the stand on Wednesday, the eighth day of the hearing.
During his testimony, Perea defended Corpus’ leadership and denied allegations that she and Aenlle were having an affair.
Perea became undersheriff on July 1, 2024, after Chris Hsuing quietly exited the position. Perea had previously served 33 years in the San Francisco Police Department.
Amid the past year of chaos and scandal plaguing Corpus and the Sheriff’s Office, Perea has always stood by Corpus’ side, literally. He is often seen next to or nearby Corpus during many of her public appearances. He also waits outside of the courtroom door for lunch and evening recesses, waiting to escort Corpus away.
The soft-spoken undersheriff gave a somewhat different account of the controversial arrest of deputy sheriff’s union president Carlos Tapia, compared to last week’s testimony of former Assistant Sheriff Matthew Fox.
On Nov. 12, 2024, Corpus directed the arrest of Tapia on suspicion of timecard fraud, convinced that there was probable cause. The arrest was also unusual since it involved the Sheriff’s Office arresting one of its own, instead of referring it to the District Attorney’s Office.
Fox, who was ordered to conduct an investigation into Tapia, testified that there was “overwhelming evidence” to suggest that Tapia could have been getting paid to work on days where there was no documentation if he was actually at the transportation bureau where he was assigned to work.
The charges were later dropped by District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, attributing the discrepancies in Tapia’s timecards to a coding error.
Perea said on the stand that on the Friday before the arrest, he met with Fox, Corpus, and Aenlle to discuss how to proceed, considering Fox’s findings.
Perea said that during the meeting, Fox was adamant about arresting Tapia that same day, which Fox denied.
“He wanted to arrest him that day, the first day that we had that session,” Perea testified.
Both Perea and Fox said Corpus opposed arresting him that Friday.
On the day of the arrest, Fox went to the District Attorney’s Office to “give them a heads up” that Tapia was going to be taken to jail, according to Fox.
Upon return, Fox “told us that the DA did not have any objections, that there was going to be post-arrest investigative work required,” according to Perea.
However, Fox testified that he told Corpus that Deputy District Attorney Shin-Mee Chang felt “uneasy” about the arrest.
During cross-examination, attorney for the county Franco Muzzio went into a line of questioning that elicited an alarming confession from Perea.
Muzzio asked him if he had ever met with Corpus or other witnesses to coordinate their testimonies for the removal hearing, to which Perea replied ‘no.’
Muzzio then asked if Perea wanted to meet with Fox three weeks ago, just before the start of the hearing.
Christopher Rillo, Perea’s attorney, was present in court during his testimony. Rillo whispered “Object!” under his breath, appearing to try and get the attention of Corpus’ legal team.
Perea said “yes” to Muzzio’s question. He confirmed that once he learned that Fox was in Tennessee at the time, Perea offered to fly out to meet him.
Muzzio then stopped his questioning, leaving the courtroom to ponder on Perea’s admission. Perea did not explain why he offered to take a plane to meet with Fox.
Before Perea, Callagy testified.
As the County Executive Officer, Callagy was involved in several significant moments within the Sheriff’s Office saga surrounding Corpus, including the firing of Aenlle and the aftermath of a now infamous trip to Hawaii that Corpus and Aenlle took.
Callagy, who said he voted for Corpus in the 2022 election, agreed to sign a contract for Aenlle to be a part of Corpus’ transition team in August of that year.
“Sheriff-elect came to me and asked me to fund a transition team for her,” Callagy said. “It was unprecedented, but I wanted to ensure her success, so I agreed to that.”
A couple months later, rumors started spreading that Corpus and Aenlle had a romantic relationship because they had taken a trip to Hawaii.
Callagy then met with Corpus and directly asked her about the accusation, which Corpus denied. However, she did confirm that he went on vacation with her to Hawaii because Aenlle was “very good with her son,” Callagy said.
“She said that they were just very, very good friends and that they’d gone on vacation before that,” Callagy said.
Sitting at a table with her legal team, Corpus shook her head in disagreement.
Callagy was “shocked” and became concerned how it would reflect on the image of the county and the Sheriff’s Office.
“I was stunned and asked her to think about the perception of this,” Callagy said. “I didn’t know when I hired him, that they were such good friends, that they would vacation together. I would have never hired him.”
Suspecting that Aenlle and Corpus were more than mere friends, Callagy decided to terminate Aenlle’s contract out of fear that a conflict of interest could lead to lawsuits against the county.
During cross-examination, Corpus’ counsel tried to paint Callagy as a domineering force over the Sheriff’s Office by arguing that he had a conflict of interest due to his relationship with former Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan.
Callagy denied the accusations.
“I don’t oversee the sheriff’s office,” Callagy said in frustration. “I don’t dictate what goes on in the sheriff’s office.”
When the Corpus was searching for an assistant sheriff to hire, Callagy recommended Monaghan to her. Callagy used to work as an officer in the San Mateo Police Department, where he was colleagues with Monaghan.
“I was very supportive of him coming here, just because he’s so ethical and innovative, and just such a good law enforcement officer,” Callagy said.
When Corpus attempted to fire Monaghan in September 2024, Callagy blocked his termination out of fear that it could be seen as retaliation since Monaghan participated in Cordell’s investigation.
That led to accusations that Callagy and Monaghan were close friends, suggesting a potential conflict of interest.
“My relationship with Mr. Monaghan is way, way, way, way different,” Callagy said. “I’ve never been to his house. I’ve never gone out to dinner with him.”
Proceedings will resume on Thursday at 9 a.m., with the hearing scheduled to end on Friday.
The hearing is one of the final stages of the county’s lengthy process to remove Corpus, giving her the public opportunity to address the allegations against her. Both the county and Corpus’ legal team agreed to have retired judge James Emerson oversee the hearing.
Instead of holding a recall election, the Board of Supervisors took the unprecedented step of putting a charter amendment, Measure A, on the ballot that would grant the Board the authority to remove Corpus. In March’s special election, voters overwhelmingly approved the measure.
The voters OVERWHELMINGLY didn’t vote!!
Of the 18% (I believe that voted) of All voters in San Mateo County took the time to vote on this issue! You make it sound like the County voters overwhelmingly voted. We are still waiting for the whole story…..nothing but the truth…..all I see is a lot of biases!!
Not saying Corpus shouldn’t go or that she shouldn’t be ousted but
the County Supervisors should have put out some leads as to who might be chosen to replace Corpus, since we voted her in!!