Sheriff Carona Indicted

 

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Sheriff Mike Carona is facing federal corruption charges alleging he used his office for financial gain.   

The indictment is filed under seal, but details are expected to be made public as early as tomorrow (Tuesday).

From The Los Angeles Times:

The full scope of the federal investigation remains unknown, but it is the latest in a series of scandals to plague the sheriff’s department.

Carona’s onetime close friend and former assistant sheriff, George Jaramillo, was accused of misusing public funds and conflict of interest in 2004 for allegedly working as a paid consultant for CHG Safety Technologies Inc. of Newport Beach. The company had designed a high-tech laser device to stop cars trying to flee from police. Jaramillo helped stage demonstrations of the invention with sheriff’s deputies. In 2005, an Orange County grand jury charged Jaramillo with conspiring with CHG owner Charles H. Gabbard to obstruct justice and taking bribes to help promote the device.

The bribery counts alleged that Jaramillo was paid in 2000 and 2001 with three checks totaling $25,000. A fourth bribery count alleged that Gabbard gave Jaramillo’s sister-in-law, Erica Hill, a job as a clerical assistant at Jaramillo’s request. Hill was initially arrested and charged along with Jaramillo, but prosecutors later dropped the charges.

In Jaramillo pleaded no contest to lying to the grand jury and misusing a county helicopter. He agreed to serve a year in jail as part of the plea.

The Times reported in January 2006 that federal officials subpoenaed records from Carona’s reserve deputy program and election committee. This followed disclosures that the government subpoenaed documents from his charitable foundation.

There is obviously a lot more to this story, and as it develops we’ll be posting about it here.

To read the rest of the Los Angeles Times story click here.