Controversial San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus had the head of the sheriff’s deputies’ union arrested last month, accusing him of grand theft. But the San Mateo County DA has dropped all of those charges, in the latest black eye for Corpus.
On that wild November day in San Mateo County when a scandal dropped that County Sheriff Christina Corpus was allegedly secretly dating a high-level employee and she’d supposedly used the n-word and homophobic slurs in the workplace, there was also a crazy footnote that Corpus had the sheriff’s deputies’ union president Carlos Tapia arrested on felony grand theft charges. Tapia alleged Corpus had him arrested in retaliation for his whistleblowing.
We now know that the so-called “grand theft” Tapia was accused of was time card fraud. But the whole issue is now moot anyway, as KTVU reports that the San Mateo County DA’s office has completely cleared Tapia of all charges, and there will be no charges filed.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in a Monday statement that his investigation "showed that there was no basis to believe any violation of law had occurred, and finally that Deputy Tapia should not have been arrested."
Wagstaffe added that there were some clerical errors, but "nothing showing criminal intent or criminal conduct."
Naturally, Tapia sought out some TV cameras to declare his innocence yet again. "I'm grateful to the District Attorney's office for recognizing these charges for what they were," he said at a Monday press conference. "Yet another attempt at retaliation from Sheriff Corpus at our expressed loss of confidence in her administration."
Undaunted, though, Corpus says she will have an "internal review" of Tapia’s conduct, even though there will be no criminal charges, according to some late-breaking Monday news from NBC Bay Area.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is still planning a March 4, 2025 special election hoping to remove Corpus as the county's sheriff.
Image: Christina Corpus for San Mateo County Sheriff via Facebook
