San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office: Two Years Later

It has been a little over two years since San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks was elected to the Sheriff’s post. Munks, who ran unopposed for the position, previously served 13 years as Undersheriff for former San Mateo County Sheriff Don Horsley and during that time the Sheriff’s Office was, by all accounts, well run and suffered little in the way of public scandal.

But under Munks’ tenure the relative calm waters that Munks inherited have become, by most accounts, storm-filled seas as the Sheriff’s Office has endured a series of scandals and blunders.

Just four months after taking office in April of 2007, Munks and his Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos were detained at a Las Vegas brothel when the two were in Vegas for a law enforcement relay race, according to an article in the Examiner Newspaper.

Neither of the County's two top cops were arrested in the brothel sweep conducted by Las Vegas and Federal authorities but many unanswered questions remained. Both lawmen refused to answer.

Subsequently, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors investigated the Sheriff’s Office use of county vehicles and resources for the trip. As much of $10,000 in public funds were used to plan and take the Vegas jaunt.

The Naked Deputy

Despite the stonewalling, another sex scandal in the Sheriff’s Department was reported by the San Mateo Daily Journal. As it turns out, a court reporter returned to work after hours sometime in May of 2007 and reported seeing a man’s bare backside flee through the hallway that runs behind the courtrooms where the county judges’ offices are located. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that the bare backside belonged to a deputy sheriff who had apparently been having sex with an unidentified woman.

No one was charged with a crime in the incident and as this was a “personnel” matter, no other public disclosures were made.

The $700,000 Flush

The next blunder was not of a sexual nature but rather had to do with the management of the County jail. It was reported in late June of 2007 in the Daily News that jail inmates had been regularly flushing a variety of debris and clothing down the jail’s toilets, damaging and clogging the sewer system and waste treatment facilities operated by the South Bayside System Authority (SBSA) - the joint powers authority which administers Redwood City's sewer system.

Among the many items flushed by jail inmates were the orange jumpsuits worn by the inmates costing the county approximately $700,000 in lost inventory and in billing from the SBSA for the damage to the sewer system.

Munks himself acknowledged the problem by saying, "It's a continuing problem and the bill is only going to get bigger."

The primary reason cited by Munks for the Sheriff’s Office inability to halt the flushing is the rampant overcrowding at the county jail – meaning guards were unable to closely monitor the actions of inmates and prevent the flushing of public dollars.

A Murderer Escapes

Things were quiet for a few months but the Sheriff’s Office landed in the press again when, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sheriff’s Office blundered in its response to the escape of an accused murderer from the County’s Juvenile Hall.

On Thursday, February 14, 2008 a 17-year-old murder suspect escaped from the San Mateo County juvenile facility, stunning county officials and neighbors of the facility.

The escape of Josue Raul Orozco, the youngest person ever charged as an adult with murder in the county and a known gang member, incarcerated for shooting a rival gang member in the back of the head, exposed some major security weaknesses in the two year old facility and a stunning lack of procedural protocols among the County’s Probation and Sheriff’s Department in responding to such an event.

Orozco escaped the juvenile detention center between 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. It is not clear from news reports how long it took facility staff to notice Orozco’s absence but, according to an external review of the incident, Sheriff’s Deputies did not respond to incident for nearly an hour nor did the Sheriff’s Office alert authorities of Orozco’s escape until after 9 p.m. that night.

Sheriff’s officials issued only what is termed a “statewide alert,” essentially a teletype alerting law enforcement throughout the state of the escape.

But, according to San Mateo County Judge Marta Diaz who excoriated public safety officials in a Daily News article, an arrest warrant should have been issued immediately. By issuing an arrest warrant, law enforcement agencies throughout the state would have received a photo of Orozco with an immediate order to make an arrest.

A warrant was not issued until 2 a.m. when Sheriff’s Deputies knocked on Diaz’ door for her signature on the warrant.

Diaz, in a Daily News article stated: "I noticed while I was reading the affidavit that the escape had occurred (6 1/2 hours earlier) - and I was shocked." If (an inmate) is making for the Mexican or Canadian border, you want that arrest warrant in your hot little hands," she said.
Instead, the escaped murderer was given a 7-hour head start and has to date never been located.

In the aftermath it is unclear if any Sheriff’s Office personnel were disciplined for the series of failures in this incident.

A Jailhouse Surprise

It took only weeks after the juvenile hall escape for the Sheriff to commit yet another public relations blunder, according to the Examiner Newspaper.

At the request of the Sheriff’s Office, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors sanctioned the Sheriff’s interest in reopening a temporary jail facility in South San Francisco for female inmates at the South San Francisco Courthouse.

In early March, South San Francisco Councilmember Karyl Matsumoto excoriated the Sheriff’s Office and county officials for failing to contact South San Francisco officials about the proposed jail. According to Matsumoto, no South San Francisco officials were apprised of the jail proposal and not a single community meeting was held before supervisors told Sheriff’s officials to pursue exploring the project. After being called on the carpet by Matsumoto, the Sheriff’s Office and Munks did begin to reach out to the City to get some feedback on the jail proposal.

Operation Lockdown

The nagging questions surrounding the Sheriff’s Las Vegas brothel visit resurfaced in April of 2008, exactly a year later, thanks to a series of articles revisiting the issue published by the Daily News.

Specifically, newly minted Congresswoman Jackie Speier reignited the issue by, for the first time, calling for a full investigation of Munks's brothel visit.

Speier Stated: "This cries out for a comprehensive external investigation, because the highest law enforcement officer in the county should not be under any suspicion of illegal activity at any time, ever.”

Speier’s call for an investigation caused months of wrangling by the Board of Supervisors who only now are considering a proposal to create a County Citizens Review Panel to investigate impropriety on the part of county elected officials. If such a commission is created, it may first and foremost review the Sheriff’s Las Vegas debacle.

Jail Overcrowding

The drive to reopen the South San Francisco facility and the problem of inmates flushing their uniforms down jailhouse toilets were both tied to the overcrowding of both the County’s men’s and women’s correctional facilities, according to Munks and county officials.

But in early May, Sheriff Munks and County Officials were disappointed to learn that the County’s application for State funding to expand two local jail facilities was declined.

San Mateo County lost out on approximately $100 million in state funding to expand the county’s Maguire Correctional facility and women’s jail facility in Redwood City, according to an article in the San Mateo Daily Journal.

The funds, authorized under Assembly Bill 900 in 2007 via a state bond, were made available to local jurisdictions under a competitive proposal process. But San Mateo County’s unwillingness house State prisoners in so-called re-entry wards may have torpedoed the county’s chances, a decision made by the Board of Supervisors.

The total estimated cost for the reconstruction of the jail is approximately $140 million. Without the state dollars, the county must now seek alternative sources or pay the entire cost itself.

But San Mateo County Times columnist John Horgan offered another theory, namely that the negative media coverage of the Sheriff’s detention at a Las Vegas brothel last year may have played a role.

Horgan offers the possibility that State officials may have little confidence in a sheriff who, according to the sheriff’s own statements, accidentally ended up a seedy residential brothel by mistake just in time for a raid by federal and local law enforcement agencies.

Horgan states: “If they are telling the truth in this matter, they come across as two fellows completely out of their element, a pair of country bumpkins loose in the big city and unable, apparently, to tell the difference between a room full of hookers and a Tupperware party.”

Although it is unlikely that such a nexus between the Sheriff’s Las Vegas trouble and the jail funding could ever be established, gun shy political leaders in Sacramento are known to avoid potential political land mines. The Sheriff’s scandal may have qualified in this instance.

Another Felon Goes Free

Finally, in July, San Mateo County residents learned from the Daily Journal that yet another violent felon had somehow been let go from county custody only to disappear. A potential second-striker, one Alfredo Guadalupe Ortiz Jr., 28, convicted of beating his girlfriend and a man who tried intervening on a San Mateo street was erroneously allowed to leave jail custody and flee after a booking process error left his bail set at $25000 instead of no-bail status. It is not yet known where the mistake was made, whether by a court clerk or by Sheriff’s Deputies on his way from the county jail to the courthouse.

Ortiz has yet to be located.

Two Years to Go

With another two years to go in his first term as Sheriff it would be hard to believe that Munks and his department could endure much more. But with the seemingly unending string of failures, blunders and poor decision-making local residents should expect the unexpected.

One thing is likely though -- with so many mistakes and with confidence in Munks’ leadership at an absolute low, local decision-makers may not allow Munks to run again for office unopposed. And if Munks’ Las Vegas episode is finally investigated by a County Citizens Review Panel, a third prolonged review of the brothel visit may be too much for the beleaguered lawman and his office to endure.