Redwood City – The County of San Mateo Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 today to accept a recommendation to proceed with removing Sheriff Christina Corpus from office.
In accordance with the removal procedures adopted by the Board, John Keene, the County’s Chief Probation Officer, conducted a pre-removal conference, which the sheriff attended with her counsel at their offices. During this pre-removal conference, Chief Keene afforded the sheriff and her counsel the opportunity to respond to the allegations contained in the Notice of Intent to Remove, which was approved by the Board at its meeting on June 5, 2025 and provided to the sheriff.
At today’s hearing, County Attorney John Nibbelin quoted from Keene’s written recommendation: “After considering the content of [the sheriff’s] presentation during the pre-removal conference, and in accordance with the removal procedures, I found that the sheriff’s conduct, as described in the Notice of Intent, violated the for cause provisions in County Charter section 412.5(B) as articulated in the Notice of Intent.”
The Notice of Intent to Remove, which reflected the results of a comprehensive investigation prepared by the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP and which is supported by 524 pages of documentary evidence and 42 witness interviews, concluded that the sheriff engaged in multiple acts of misconduct that, if true, would support removal from office based on causes set forth in Section 412.5(B)(1) of the San Mateo County Charter (violation of law related to the performance of the sheriff’s duties); 412.5(B)(2) of the Charter (flagrant and repeated neglect of the sheriff’s duties); and 412.5(B)(5) of the Charter (obstruction of an investigation into the conduct of the sheriff).
Today’s decision to proceed required a four-fifths vote by the Board of Supervisors and follows a process that the voters authorized the Board to develop and implement under Measure A, a County Charter amendment passed by 84 percent of voters in March 2025.
Under the Removal Procedures adopted by the Board, following today’s unanimous vote, the sheriff has five days to appeal the Board’s decision and request a full evidentiary hearing with sworn testimony before a neutral hearing officer selected from the list approved by the Board at today’s meeting. The hearing officer may issue subpoenas, consider evidence and hear live testimony.
The evidentiary hearing, which must be completed within 60 days after selection of the hearing officer, would be open to the public unless the sheriff objects in writing. Unless excused by the hearing officer, the Sheriff must personally attend the hearing and provide testimony if called. Otherwise, her appeal may be dismissed by the hearing officer.
At the end of the evidentiary hearing, the hearing officer has 45 calendar days to issue a written advisory opinion, which the Board will consider at a public meeting. If the Board ultimately decides to move forward with removal, the vote requires a four-fifths majority.
Measure A amended the County Charter through Dec. 31, 2028 to allow for the removal of a sheriff by the Board if it finds on a four-fifths vote that there is cause to do so.
Cause includes violating the law related to a sheriff’s duties, flagrant or repeated neglect of duties, misappropriation of public funds, willful falsification of documents or obstructing an investigation.
The duration of proceedings depends on a number of factors that are not yet fully known, but the County’s outside counsel has indicated that the earliest the matter could likely conclude is within approximately four months.
Marshall Wilson
Communications Officer
650-465-7289
mwilson@smcgov.org