VICTOR AENLLE, who is accused of having an affair with San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus while serving as her Chief of Staff, took the stand on Tuesday to criticize his former colleagues in the Sheriff’s Office and deny the numerous characterizations of him being an intimidating leader.
The 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, of which Aenlle is at the center, accused Corpus of having a romantic relationship with Aenlle and the pair of them fostering a culture of intimidation and retaliation.
Aenlle’s nearly four-hour long testimony was one of the few public statements he has made since the sheriff’s union began speaking openly against him nearly one year ago.
Aenlle, who has background in real estate, private investigation, and executive protection, said he first met Corpus at the Sheriff’s Office shooting range around 2009 or 2010. Aenlle worked as an instructor at the range for eight years, he said.
Over the next decade, the two “kind of knew each other” but their “paths didn’t cross that much,” he said.
Once Corpus won the election against incumbent Carlos Bolanos, Aenlle was hired onto her transition team after being working on her campaign for sheriff. Eventually, Corpus created the civilian role of Chief of Staff for him.
Aenlle is a level 1 reserve officer, which means he can exercise full powers and duties of a peace officer only while on duty, according to the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.
During a Board of Supervisors meeting on Nov. 13, the Board discussed the results of the Cordell report. The findings, which accused Aenlle of executing undue power over the Sheriff’s Office and retaliating against people he perceived to be disloyal, led the Board to fire Aenlle by eliminating the role of Chief of Staff.
At the same meeting, Corpus tried to block his firing by attempting to promote him to assistant sheriff. But County Executive Mike Callagy immediately barred him from entering the county facilities not open to the public, including Corpus’ executive office.
‘I am one of the victims’
In his testimony on Tuesday, Aenlle argued that he is in fact the victim since he was not afforded due process in his termination.
“I am one of the victims of the whole Cordell report and charade,” he said to Emerson. “I’m an immigrant. I was raised in a communist country. Your Honor, my rights have been crumpled more here in this free country than anywhere else.”
When an attorney during either direct or cross examination referred to Aenlle being terminated, he made sure to correct them and clarify that he was “wrongfully terminated.”
He dismissed the Cordell report, saying it had no merit and was factually inaccurate.
The Cordell report itself has no legal basis and cannot be held up in a court of law.
“It contained a lot of errors. It was all hearsay,” said Aenlle. “A lot of inaccuracies and a lack of fact checking. That report was used as a basis for my termination… That report was actually start of everything. That report gave birth to Measure A.”
He defended wearing a gold badge, which the Cordell report alleged he was not qualified to wear as an unsworn officer.
He also appeared annoyed when attorneys on both sides asked him multiple times if he was ever romantically involved with Corpus.
“I think we’ve gone down this road so much and everybody had plenty of time to provide evidence and information. Clearly we’re right back to the same spot we started,” Aenlle said in a firm tone. “My answer is ‘no.’“
Aenlle never looked toward Corpus, who was sitting at the bench with her legal team. He gave lengthy answers, and spoke against the character of several executives and high-level staff he had worked with in the Sheriff’s Office.
One of Corpus’ attorneys, Wilson Leung, asked Aenlle few questions on Corpus’s infamous trip to Hawaii with him, in which she claimed Aenlle accompanied her on the plane rides solely to help take care of her son.
Aenlle bolstered Corpus’ argument, saying that he came to Hawaii to babysit her son, who has autism spectrum disorder. He also said that during the trip, he only met with Corpus once to have coffee.
Turning fire on former colleagues
In his testimony, he lambasted several former members of the Corpus’ executive team, calling them incompetent and said they performed their duties poorly.
He painted former Undersheriff Chris Hsuing as a lazy, unmotivated leader. Hsuing exited his role as undersheriff in June 2024, a departure that had little public explanation.
“He would never engage,” Aenlle said. “Chris is a good man, but he had no backbone. He’s scared. He was scared to engage with command staff.”
Aenlle also had thoughts on former Capt. Brian Philip, saying that “Philip just wasn’t doing his job.”
Philip believes he was retaliated against for refusing to sign off an internal affairs investigation, claiming that it was not in compliance with code. Philip finally resigned from the Sheriff’s Office after refusing to execute orders to arrest deputies’ union president Carlos Tapia.
He also defended Corpus’ attempt to fire former assistant sheriff Ryan Monaghan, who testified before Aenlle on Tuesday. The firing was blocked by Callagy, who feared his termination would be seen as retaliation due to his cooperation with Cordell’s investigation.
Aenlle suspected that Callagy’s relationship to Monaghan could be a conflict of interest.
“That was my biggest concern,” Aenlle said. “The best interests of the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t always align with the county.”
He further denigrated the character of Monaghan, saying he was not cut out for the role of assistant sheriff.
“Ryan is a happy go lucky guy, but they didn’t respect him,” Aenlle said. “He had no command presence.”
During Monaghan’s testimony in the morning, he was asked to describe Aenlle’s leadership style.
“Really in one word: dictatorial,” Monaghan said. “It was characterized by the use of fear and intimidation tactics to get people to do what he wanted. He would often be condescending and talk down to people in a disrespectful manner, and he seemed to avoid any accountability for things that went wrong under his purview.”
When asked by Jeff Dooley, an attorney for the county, to explain the numerous witness accounts of Aenlle’s treatment of others, Aenlle simply said he was “direct” in his communication.
Dooley stopped his cross examination of Aenlle just as Aenlle began to show signs of frustration. Leung decided not to do redirect examination, instead ending the day 30 minutes early.
Aenlle proudly strutted out of the courthouse in his a grey suit and Ray Ban sunglasses. He briefly spoke to the media, giving his thoughts on being able to testify.
“I am glad that I was here to give my side of the story because I was wrongfully terminated,” Aenlle said while looking at each camera. “The Cordell report is the fruit of a poisonous tree.”
Because court ended early, Wednesday’s proceedings will begin at 8:30 a.m. The hearing is expected to conclude 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.