REDWOOD CITY – An independent firm will investigate San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus’ claims County Executive Mike Callagy has undermined her authority and compromised the effectiveness of her office, elected officials said Tuesday.
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“In its commitment to a full, transparent and independent investigation, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will retain an independent firm to investigate allegations made by Sheriff Christina Corpus,” Supervisors Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller said in a statement on behalf of the board.
The supervisors said the board has also directed the county attorney’s office to notify the California Attorney General’s Office of “matters related to the sheriff’s office.”
In a complaint Sunday, Corpus said any investigation into Callagy “should cover his attempts to conspire against an elected sheriff, discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse of power and persistent interference with the operations of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.”
Corpus said she would escalate the matter to the state level if the board did not act.
Corzo and Mueller on Monday said the board was reviewing the complaint and would “take the necessary time to determine the appropriate course of action.” Callagy, they noted, “rejects the sheriff’s claims as false and defamatory” and “welcomes a full, transparent and independent investigation into any allegations made against him.”
“County Executive Callagy has been an ethical public servant in San Mateo County for over 41 years,” the supervisors said Monday. “Unless proven otherwise, the board will remain united in its full faith and trust in his leadership.”
The complaint comes amidst a separate investigation the board has commissioned into “multiple personnel allegations” related to the sheriff’s office. Former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell is heading the independent probe.
That investigation took a surprising turn last week when Mueller revealed Corpus had fired Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan, her third in command, after Cordell interviewed him. The timing “suggests possible retaliation” against Monaghan for participating in the probe,” Mueller said Friday in a statement on behalf of the board.
Cordell has been asked to investigate whether Corpus retaliated against Monaghan.
In her complaint, Corpus said Monaghan was fired for his “performance duplicity and failure to execute the goals of the sheriff’s office expeditiously,” not because he sat down for an interview with Cordell.