By Michael G. Stogner
At this very moment there are only two Candidates for San Mateo County Sheriff in the June 2022 Election. Bolanos and Corpus.
Questions about Mentoring?
Has Sheriff’s Captain Christina Corpus been the beneficiary of mentoring, at the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department? Might she even be characterized as a product of such a practice? First, as a Correctional Officer, had she been individually mentored by Officer Robert Introcaso, Deputy Maurice Spiller, and Deputy Allen Dorsett, respectfully? If so, did she find such mentoring beneficial and had it not furthered her career, within the organization? Was such mentoring afforded to Christina’s peers? Was it a practice, at the Sheriff’s Department?
To find out, this reporter had filed a request with Bolanos, under the California Public Records Act, to learn about the Sheriff’s Department Mentoring Program, in general, and as it applied to Corpus, in particular. To date, there has been no response.
Later, if such mentoring had occurred, hadn’t then Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos not decided to personally join in it, to mentor Christina -this out of an organization of over six-hundred persons? Hadn’t Christina been the only person given such attention by Bolanos? If true, couldn’t one say, at that point, Christina had been serially mentored?
Certainly, Corpus’ meteoric rise, in both rank and coveted assignments, incident to Carlos’ mentoring sessions, did not go unnoticed by other Sheriff’s Department personnel, with some questioning her performance and lack of experience, within the organization.
An example would be, while assigned to Countywide Security, it had become necessary for sheriff’s detectives, apparently at the direction of Bolanos, to assist her, in handling incidents, in performing, a practice not afforded other persons, under similar circumstances.
While Christina had been assigned as a board member to Sheriff’s Activities League (SAL), significant monies had allegedly been serially embezzled by a sheriff’s employee -SAL Director Barbara Bonilla. Did Corpus exercise adequate oversight, diligence, attention to her duties & responsibilities, as a Board Member, while such outrageous thefts were occurring? Had she taken the job seriously? These are questions which need to be answered, should she be truly considered for Sheriff.
Would Sheriff Bolanos promote and assign Christina Corpus for reasons other than merit? Did he promote and assign her, based upon performance? These are questions which bear asking?
Should Sheriff Bolanos’ past judgement & behavior be considered, in answering these questions? In 2007, he was involved in, what was known as, Operation Dollhouse, an event in which he had been detained by the FBI & Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, at a human trafficking site – a seedy residence, in Clark County, Nevada, where indentured Asian sex slaves, to include one minor, and the illegal drug Ecstasy were being marketed.
Bolanos has been very dismissive of the event, acting as if his presence, INSIDE such an establishment, was no big deal. Even San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe was found to console Bolanos, following the event, describing him, in a county e-mail, as a person that mattered and lamenting press coverage of it would soon be yesterday’s news. This begs the question, are such mentoring practices, in the County, limited to just the Sheriff’s Department? Perhaps, DA Wagstaffe would know, as he is apparently so insightful about such questionable matters?
Corpus, in her quest for Sheriff, has called for more transparency, at the Sheriff’s Department. I agree and would ask that she answer and comment upon the foregoing described questions. I think other sheriff’s employees, ones who have not been afforded or taken advantage of the mentoring opportunities, at the Sheriff’s Department, deserve to know.
Further, an objective measure of experience and performance, to assess Corpus’ qualifications for her current position, much less the Sheriff, would be:
- How many arrests has she personally made, while employed at the Sheriff’s Department?
- How many crime reports has she personally authored, while employed at the Sheriff’s Department?
- How many cases was she personally assigned to investigate, while employed at the Sheriff’s Department?
- How many crimes has she personally solved, while employed at the Sheriff’s Department?
This information, the number of cases, case numbers, and dispositions, are readily available from the Sheriff’s Department’s computerized Records Management System. If Captain Corpus wants to be sheriff and Sheriff Bolanos wants to be transparent, in his decisions to promote and assign her, I think it would be in everyone’s interest, to put those numbers out, this so the public can judge her experience and performance for themselves. Wouldn’t it provide insight, as to whether she’s just an empty suit, a person promoted because of mollycoddling & mentoring, or an individual of substance, one who can be expected and counted upon to deliver results.
San Mateo County News 
What kind of reporting is this?
‘Has Sheriff’s Captain Christina Corpus been the beneficiary of mentoring, at the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department? Might she even be characterized as a product of such a practice?’
Of course the answer is yes. It is always ‘Yes’ within an organization that plans for successorship. And your article seems to suggest a conspiracy without any evidence. Media coverage like this makes people think there must be a conspiracy. Not helpful, particularly in today’s political landscape.
I might suggest reporting about how Bolanos claims he is no longer turning undocumented people over to ICE and yet he is. Or how Bolanos claims that he takes cyclists reports of dangerous driving seriously and authorizes investigations when he does the opposite. Or how Cyclists have been trying to get Bolanos to meet with them and Supervisor Pine since November 2021 and he refuses. That would be a real story with facts to support it.