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He was law enforcement's wonder boy. Dubbed "America's Sheriff" in 2002, for his steely, super cop media performance during a child killer manhunt, Michael S. Carona, Orange County's sheriff, won national praise.
The policeman with charm to burn seemed poised for political office, perhaps as Arnold
Schwarzenegger's running mate in California. Courted by White House political fixer Karl Rove, Carona was appointed to an elite national security advisory board by President Bush.
At the same time the Orange County Sheriff's Department's [OCSD] US$707 million ( NZ$930 million) budget, 3,400 employees, 1,800 sworn deputies, and intelligence unit made him one of America's most powerful lawmen. Hollywood even talked up the prospect of an OCSD TV reality show.
But, say federal prosecutors, Carona was really a crook, whose decade-long tenure as the county chief spawned pervasive corruption, cronyism and chronic mismanagement.
Next month, the self-proclaimed Christian conservative, who says he is motivated by "his personal relationship with Jesus Christ," will go on trial in Santa Ana, Orange County, charged with mail fraud, conspiracy and witness tampering.
His wife, Deborah, and Deborah Hoffman, a lawyer described as his "long-time mistress," were also charged with crimes. Wearing handcuffs, all three pleaded not guilty when the indictments were handed down.
The sheriff's fall did not surprise seasoned Carona watchers. "Except for a few of us who never bought Carona's glad-handing, cheap smiles and constant lies, the indictment is a tsunami for Orange County government, politics and law enforcement," wrote the Orange County Weekly's R. Scott Moxley.
The federal indictment followed a grand jury investigation that outlined a broad conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that Carona, 52, conspired "to corruptly use the office of Sheriff to enrich himself" from 1998, when he was first elected. He allegedly traded official influence for over $350,000 in cash, trips, air travel, expensive gifts such as Cartier watches, and luxury seats at sports events.
His wife and mistress, who were sometimes both snapped with Carona by police photographers at official events, allegedly benefited from well-documented kickbacks. Carona married in the mid-1970s and met Hoffman in 1998. In an eerie echo of Hitchcock's Vertigo, where a cop obsessed by a blonde persuades a woman to dress like his feminine ideal, Hoffman looks like a younger version of Deborah Carona.
At first, Carona refused to quit. "I'm staying because I love my job and I do a good job," he insisted. "Most importantly, I have committed no criminal acts." His wife said the charges had "no merit," and that she was being "used as leverage against my husband." Hoffman kept quiet.
However, this defiance was undermined by two of the sheriff's closest allies, George Jaramillo and Donald G. Haidl. As "Team Forever" they spearheaded Carona's 1998 election _ Haidl solicited support and Jaramillo managed the campaign _ and became assistant sheriffs. Haidl, a multi-millionaire used-car dealer, allegedly gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Carona and his associates, including "numerous cheques" of $1000 to the sheriff.
Jaramillo, an ex-cop and Hoffman's legal partner in Jaramillo, Hoffman and Associates, is accused of taking money from Haidl. Both admit filing false tax returns, were indicted in October, and are co-operating with prosecutors.
The grand jury also said Carona, Haidl and Jaramillo steered clients _ prison inmates and OCSD staff _ to attorney Joseph Cavallo. In one episode Carona advised a deputy's widow to hire Cavallo in a suit that settled for $340,000, some of which went to unnamed cronies of the sheriff. Cavallo, not indicted but named as a co-conspirator, pleaded guilty to the kickback scam.
In January, bowing to widespread pressure, Carona stepped down. Calling his departure a "retirement," the man who once travelled with four bodyguards who called him "Brave Heart," said he would clear his name.
On August 26 he goes on trial with Hoffman. His wife will be tried separately.
The scandal throws a harsh light on the US sheriff system, where inexperience _ Carona honed his skills as a bailiff with the Orange County Marshall's Service and never worked as a street cop _ is no barrier to high office, provided candidates have money and connections. Deborah Carona's family is mentioned in Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and her father was a state deputy attorney general.
Despite pledges to run a clean department, shortly after he took office Carona deputised 86 relatives, friends and political supporters, providing them with badges, arrest powers and, sometimes, guns. Many were connected to Haidl.
In 2002 a state body deleted all 86 reserve deputies from police databases, annulling their status as cops. But many retained badges and, in some cases, guns. Prosecutors say Haidl abused his "get out of jail free card," seeking preferential treatment for his son, arrested for rape.
But Carona shrugged off criticism that deputising people without conducting background checks _ a violation of state law _ might deputise unsavoury candidates and undermine OCSD integrity. "No one is ever going to get close enough to me to compromise me," he said. "It just won't happen."
At least two of the 86 appointments sparked concern. One deputy, restaurateur Freddie Glusman, allegedly pulled out his badge in a dispute over a parking space. And Raymond Yi, Carona's martial arts coach, waved his gun and badge at golfers, prompting criminal charges.
In another incident, Stefan Eriksson, a Swede with European crime links, wrecked a Ferrari in a 162mph crash at Malibu in 2006. When police searched his Bel Air mansion they found a handgun belonging to realtor Roger Davis, a reserve deputy. Eriksson, a convicted felon, is forbidden to have a gun.
One of the biggest mysteries in Carona's case is why the indictments took so long, given the steady drip of scandal since his inauguration. Certainly, Carona appears to have had some shady associates, including Rick Rizzolo, a convicted felon , and con man Joseph Medawar, jailed for bilking millions from evangelicals to finance DHS, a bogus TV show about America's "War on Terror".
Haidl, the sheriff's "buddy for life," also has a colourful past. In 2006 Haidl's son, Greg, was convicted of a 2002 gang rape, recorded on DVD, of an unconscious 16-year-old girl at his father's Newport Beach mansion.
Prosecutors say Carona tried, unsuccessfully, to have Haidl tried as a juvenile. When a 2003 pot bust _ a small bag of marijuana _ threatened to violate Haidl's bail, Jaramillo allegedly orchestrated a cover-up, backed by the sheriff. The OC Weekly challenged Carona's denials, saying phone call records suggested he had lied. When Carona fired Jaramillo in 2004, the insider became an implacable enemy.
Like Jaramillo, Haidl _ arrested for fraud by state authorities but never charged: he called accusations "a bunch of trash from lowlifes" _ would haunt the sheriff.
Between 1999 and 2002 Haidl is accused of funnelling $42,000 to Carona. Over $170,000 was allegedly directed to Hoffman at Carona's request. Haidl is also accused of making a $110,000 "loan" to the JHA law firm the day before the 1998 election. In another alleged scam Carona and Jaramillo used their clout to acquire land for a paint-ball range, with the beneficiaries paying Cavallo $25,000.
In August 2007, Haidl secretly taped the sheriff's request that he lie to the grand jury about illegal cash payments, say prosecutors.
"On my end, nothing's traceable. It's hidden," Haidl allegedly said. Carona is said to have replied: "Well, on my end of it [it's] untraceable, completely untraceable."
And then there's the sheriff's sex life. Besides the two women in his life Carona is accused of sexual harassment. Erica Hill, Jaramillo's sister-in-law, told a grand jury Carona wanted sex when she lobbied on behalf of her husband for a deputy's job.
An unrepentant Carona blasted such allegations as lies designed to destroy his image as a conservative Christian.
In April a grand jury dropped another bombshell, reporting guards at the county jail allowed inmates to run amok and terrorise others. One man was raped and killed as a guard texted his pals. This echo of Iraq's Abu Ghraib scandal reinforced past claims that guards brutalised inmates and encouraged them to fight one another as entertainment.
All of which happened on Carona's watch. When he was asked to testify before the grand jury investigating prison abuses the sheriff invoked the 5th Amendment and refused.
Which brings us to Cavallo, the defence attorney on the Haidl rape case _ he called the comatose victim a "slut" _ who benefited from kickbacks, to whit running a bail bonds scam out of the OC Jail, hiring inmates at up to $1000 a pop to recommend his services.
"He's great at convincing people he's an innocent, religious guy, but he's really a snake," said Cavallo, now a prosecution witness, demonstrating, perhaps, a lack of honour among thieves when the noose tightens.
Meanwhile, as officials voice fears that Carona's rule may have eroded public trust in California's second largest police force, the ex-sheriff's lawyers pushed for an out-of-state trial on the grounds that two local DJs had prejudiced the jury pool by reading the secretly recorded Haidl transcripts, urging listeners to get on the jury and convict Carona. A judge said the skit was satire.
Carona's replacement, Sandra Hutchens, an outsider who took charge in June, has vowed to clean up the sheriff's department. One of her first tasks will be to review the files of all reserve deputies.
