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10-30-2007, 03:15 PM
(AP) SANTA ANA, Calif. Orange County's sheriff joined with a wealthy businessman and others, including his wife and mistress, in using his office to enrich themselves by accepting some $350,000 in illicit gifts, loans and other compensation, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Neither Sheriff Mike Carona nor his attorney, H. Dean Steward, could be reached for immediate comment on the 10-count federal complaint.
The court papers allege that Carona was boosted into office with the help of businessman Don Haidl, who, among other things, made regular $1,000 monthly payments in exchange for full access to the resources of the sheriff's department and a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Haidl helped Carona get elected and was appointed in January 1999 to the position of assistant sheriff -- despite a lack of qualifications -- as payback, the government alleges.
Haidl allegedly began the financial end of his association with Carona -- who previously headed the Orange County Marshal's Department -- by making several $1,000 campaign "conduit contributions" that concealed that Haidl was the true source of the funds, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel said.
Carona was indicted along with his wife, Deborah Carona -- a member of the Orange County Fair Board of Directors -- and attorney Debra Victoria Hoffman, who is identified in court papers as the sheriff's longtime mistress.
Hoffman was appointed to the State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and the California Council on Criminal Justice, which Carona chaired.
All three are accused of concealing the illegal benefits they allegedly received and are expected to surrender Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.
Haidl and George Jaramillo, a former assistant sheriff who was Carona's right-hand man until he was fired by his boss in March 2004, were charged separately, according to Sagel. Both men pleaded guilty last March to those federal charges, which were also unsealed Tuesday, the prosecutor said.
Jaramillo -- who is serving a one-year sentence in a separate state case for lying to a grand jury and misusing a county helicopter -- pleaded guilty to federal charges of depriving the public of his honest services, mail fraud and tax fraud, while Haidl admitted a tax offense, Sagel said.
Haidl's son Greg is serving a prison term, along with two other young men, in a headline-grabbing case involving the 2002 sexual assault of an unconscious 16-year-old girl on a pool table in his father's Corona del Mar home.
The indictment alleges that shortly after Carona's election in June 1998, the elder Haidl financed a Lake Tahoe vacation for the sheriff, Jaramillo and their spouses, and that he made monthly cash payments of about $1,000 for years to Carona and Jaramillo.
Haidl also allegedly gave Hoffman and Jaramillo a $110,000 cashier's check the day before Carona was elected sheriff in 1998. The money was used to revive Jaramillo, Hoffman and Associates, a law firm that Jaramillo and Hoffman had founded, according to the government.
A portion of the funds were repaid through an agreement in which Carona and Jaramillo, among others, would refer legal cases -- including those involving sheriff department employees -- to another lawyer who would kick back legal fees to members of the conspiracy, Sagel alleged.
In 1999 and 2000, Haidl also allegedly gave additional checks totaling about $65,000 to Hoffman at Carona's request.
The indictment alleges that Carona and Jaramillo also entered into an agreement with the owners of a paintball business, in which businessmen would pay tens of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for Carona's help in obtaining land in Orange County for a recreational facility.
Carona is also accused of witness tampering, which includes allegedly trying to get Haidl to lie to the federal grand jury.
Carona, in a recorded conversation last Aug. 13, encouraged Haidl to withhold evidence in order to make false statements to the grand jury, the court papers allege.
Hoffman is accused of bankruptcy fraud for allegedly failing to disclose various economic interests, including the loan and payments from Haidl, among other omissions, Sagel said.
During Tuesday's Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor John Moorlach called on Carona to step down.
"I do not believe it is sufficient for Sheriff Carona to merely step aside or to take a leave of absence," Moorlach said. "I believe he must resign and open a way for the Board of Supervisors to chose an interim sheriff from outside the department in order to restore, in the eyes of the citizens of Orange County, competence and the integrity of the highest levels of the Sheriff's Department."
The board took no action on Moorlach's resignation call, which was not made in the form of a motion.
After the meeting, Supervisors Chair Chris Norby told reporters he would like to read the indictment before commenting on Moorlach's position. He also said the board has no authority to force Carona, an elected official, to step down while the indictment is pending.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )
Neither Sheriff Mike Carona nor his attorney, H. Dean Steward, could be reached for immediate comment on the 10-count federal complaint.
The court papers allege that Carona was boosted into office with the help of businessman Don Haidl, who, among other things, made regular $1,000 monthly payments in exchange for full access to the resources of the sheriff's department and a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Haidl helped Carona get elected and was appointed in January 1999 to the position of assistant sheriff -- despite a lack of qualifications -- as payback, the government alleges.
Haidl allegedly began the financial end of his association with Carona -- who previously headed the Orange County Marshal's Department -- by making several $1,000 campaign "conduit contributions" that concealed that Haidl was the true source of the funds, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel said.
Carona was indicted along with his wife, Deborah Carona -- a member of the Orange County Fair Board of Directors -- and attorney Debra Victoria Hoffman, who is identified in court papers as the sheriff's longtime mistress.
Hoffman was appointed to the State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and the California Council on Criminal Justice, which Carona chaired.
All three are accused of concealing the illegal benefits they allegedly received and are expected to surrender Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.
Haidl and George Jaramillo, a former assistant sheriff who was Carona's right-hand man until he was fired by his boss in March 2004, were charged separately, according to Sagel. Both men pleaded guilty last March to those federal charges, which were also unsealed Tuesday, the prosecutor said.
Jaramillo -- who is serving a one-year sentence in a separate state case for lying to a grand jury and misusing a county helicopter -- pleaded guilty to federal charges of depriving the public of his honest services, mail fraud and tax fraud, while Haidl admitted a tax offense, Sagel said.
Haidl's son Greg is serving a prison term, along with two other young men, in a headline-grabbing case involving the 2002 sexual assault of an unconscious 16-year-old girl on a pool table in his father's Corona del Mar home.
The indictment alleges that shortly after Carona's election in June 1998, the elder Haidl financed a Lake Tahoe vacation for the sheriff, Jaramillo and their spouses, and that he made monthly cash payments of about $1,000 for years to Carona and Jaramillo.
Haidl also allegedly gave Hoffman and Jaramillo a $110,000 cashier's check the day before Carona was elected sheriff in 1998. The money was used to revive Jaramillo, Hoffman and Associates, a law firm that Jaramillo and Hoffman had founded, according to the government.
A portion of the funds were repaid through an agreement in which Carona and Jaramillo, among others, would refer legal cases -- including those involving sheriff department employees -- to another lawyer who would kick back legal fees to members of the conspiracy, Sagel alleged.
In 1999 and 2000, Haidl also allegedly gave additional checks totaling about $65,000 to Hoffman at Carona's request.
The indictment alleges that Carona and Jaramillo also entered into an agreement with the owners of a paintball business, in which businessmen would pay tens of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for Carona's help in obtaining land in Orange County for a recreational facility.
Carona is also accused of witness tampering, which includes allegedly trying to get Haidl to lie to the federal grand jury.
Carona, in a recorded conversation last Aug. 13, encouraged Haidl to withhold evidence in order to make false statements to the grand jury, the court papers allege.
Hoffman is accused of bankruptcy fraud for allegedly failing to disclose various economic interests, including the loan and payments from Haidl, among other omissions, Sagel said.
During Tuesday's Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor John Moorlach called on Carona to step down.
"I do not believe it is sufficient for Sheriff Carona to merely step aside or to take a leave of absence," Moorlach said. "I believe he must resign and open a way for the Board of Supervisors to chose an interim sheriff from outside the department in order to restore, in the eyes of the citizens of Orange County, competence and the integrity of the highest levels of the Sheriff's Department."
The board took no action on Moorlach's resignation call, which was not made in the form of a motion.
After the meeting, Supervisors Chair Chris Norby told reporters he would like to read the indictment before commenting on Moorlach's position. He also said the board has no authority to force Carona, an elected official, to step down while the indictment is pending.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )