This story first appeared in the print edition of the Daily Post on Friday morning. To get all of the local news first, pick up the Post in the mornings at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.
BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Managing Editor
Victor Aenlle, the former chief of staff of San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, said in a newly filed $15 million claim against the county that he has been targeted because he is a Latino.
In an unsigned statement issued Thursday, the county responded by saying: “The claim includes an unsubstantiated accusation that individuals are discriminating against him as a Latino, without presenting any evidence or rationale.”
In an unsigned statement issued Thursday, the county responded by saying: “The claim includes an unsubstantiated accusation that individuals are discriminating against him as a Latino, without presenting any evidence or rationale.”
Sheriff Corpus has also said that she has been targeted because she’s a Latina.
(Read Aenlle’s claim and the county’s response.)
In order to sue a local government, a would-be plaintiff needs to file a claim stating their demands. If the claim is rejected, the plaintiff can sue the government in court.
In the claim, Aenlle said County Executive Mike Callagy conspired with Supervisors Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller to “defame, retaliate against and remove Mr. Aenlle from his duly appointed position as chief of staff.”
Aenlle also attacked the independent report written by retired Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell, who was hired by the county to investigate HR complaints against Aenlle that Corpus had ignored.
Aenlle said the report is “a defamatory, incomplete, politically weaponized document,” and that he wasn’t given a chance to respond to its allegations. Aenlle sat for a lengthy interview with Cordell, a transcript of which was included in the report.
Cordell’s report found Aenlle and Corpus engaged in a campaign of intimidation and retaliation against employees.
Cordell also alleged that Corpus and Aenlle were in a relationship and Aenlle gave the sheriff lavish gifts, such as $11,000 Tiffany earrings. Both Corpus and Aenlle have denied they were having an affair.
The day after the report was released, Aenlle was fired by the supervisors. Aenlle said the firing on Nov. 13 was done by Callagy “without notice, due process, fiscal justification, performance-based reasoning or the consent of Sheriff Corpus.”
Aenlle said that between September to October, which is when Cordell was working on her report, Human Resources Director Rocio Kiryczun allegedly pressured Corpus to place Aenlle on administrative leave, or fire him. Aenlle said Kiryczun’s urging of the sheriff was done “without good cause or investigation.”
The claim also said Callagy “exploited his influence over county departments to target Mr. Aenlle’s private property by directing an unfounded retaliatory code enforcement and Farm Labor Task Force actions at Mr. Aenlle.”
The county disputed Aenlle’s claims, saying the reasons his property has been under investigation is unrelated to Callagy.
“The Farmworker Housing Compliance Task Force was convened in early 2023 after the mass shooting in Half Moon Bay. Over the course of two years, some 56 properties with farmworker housing, including Mr. Aenlle’s property, were inspected,” the statement says.
The county said that an inspection of Aenlle’s property found unsafe and unpermitted housing, and contaminated water sources. One of his units on the property was red tagged, the county said.
The county, in its unsigned statement about Aenlle’s claim, said the claim “contains numerous inaccuracies and appears to spread false information, including about county enforcement activities responding to housing conditions on his property.”
Aenlle, a licensed real estate agent who formerly worked for Coldwell Banker, has had an unprecedented trajectory in the sheriff’s office under Corpus. Aenlle has been a reserve deputy for 17 years. After Corpus was elected in 2022, she put him on her “transition team.” Once she was sworn in, she brought him into her inner circle of sheriff’s office leaders even though he hadn’t come up through the ranks like other top law enforcement leaders locally. By July 2023, he was being paid $246,979 plus benefits as a contract employee, according to Cordell’s report.
Corpus initially dodged the question about whether she was having an affair with Aenlle. When Callagy asked her, she said it was an “inappropriate and offensive request.” However, she didn’t answer the question. She characterized his question as “demeaning and discriminatory” and indicative of Callagy “overstepping his authority.” Callagy asked because he wanted to know if she was violating the county’s policy against nepotism.
Corpus filed a formal complaint against Callagy, accusing him of bullying, and requesting an investigation into his conduct.
Callagy responded with his own $10.5 million claim against the county on March 13, saying Aenlle and Corpus made false and defamatory statements about him and damaged his reputation.
The Board of Supervisors plans to hold hearings to determine whether to fire Corpus, who has been accused of retaliation, nepotism, making racist and homophobic comments, conflicts of interest and operating jails with an unusually high number of deaths. The process could extend four to six months.
In the meantime, Corpus has decided to bring Aenlle back, in his capacity as a reserve deputy, to assist in the sheriff’s program to give out gun permits. When the county supervisors fired Aenlle, Callagy forbid Aenlle from entering nonpublic parts of county buildings unless accompanied by an elected official. At least once, the sheriff has bought Aenlle back into the sheriff’s headquarters at 330 Bradford St. in Redwood City. The county attorney’s office is looking into whether Aenlle can return to the sheriff’s office to work on the gun permit program.
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