Free Republic

Sheriff Mike Carona, his wife and a woman identified as his "longtime mistress" have been indicted on charges of public corruption by a federal grand jury, The Orange County Register has learned. Orange County's top lawman has been charged with seven felony counts that he illegally accepted money, high-priced gifts and tickets to exclusive sporting events, and made loans to his girlfriend in exchange for favors, according to an indictment expected to be unsealed today. Carona's former top aide, George Jaramillo, in a separate agreement, pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and corruption charges in March and assisted the FBI...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - The attorney for one of three young men sentenced to prison for the videotaped sexual assault of an unconscious teenage girl vows that the victim and her family will regret naming him as a defendant in a $26 million civil lawsuit. "They're going to rue the day they brought me into this case," said Joseph G. Cavallo, who represented Gregory Haidl, son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff. Haidl, 20, and co-defendants Keith Spann and Kyle Nachreiner, both 21, were sentenced earlier this month to six years in state prison stemming from the July 2002...

Friends, relatives were also among the 86 who received badges, even though some lacked training. Carona says there was no public risk. Shortly after he took office, Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona and one of his top assistants deputized 86 friends, relatives, political contributors and others, giving them badges, powers of arrest and in some cases guns — despite the fact that none had background investigations and some had not been fully trained. Three years later, the state's Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training removed all 86 of the reserve deputies from California's peace officer database, which meant...

Haidl convicted on six of nine charges; Spann on 5, Nachreiner on 4. None is convicted of rape, oral copulation or aggravated assault. Three young men, including the son of a former top Orange County sheriff’s official, were convicted today of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl during a night of partying. Gregory Haidl, 19, and Keith Spann and Kyle Nachreiner, both 20, were each convicted on multiple counts of sexual penetration by intoxication for the July 6, 2002, episode that Haidl videotaped at the Corona del Mar home of his father, former Assistant Orange County Sheriff Don Haidl, a millionaire...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A jury began deliberating Thursday in the retrial of a wealthy former assistant sheriff's son and two other young men accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated teen in an encounter captured on videotape. The jury of eight men and four women must choose between two starkly different scenarios: that three young men violently abused an unconscious teen, as prosecutors contend; or that a 16-year-old girl was a willing participant in what the defense claims was a "weekend sexcapade." The key evidence in the trial - the second after a jury deadlocked last year - was the...

<p>NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) - The son of an Orange County assistant sheriff and two other teenagers have been charged with the videotaped gang rape of an unconscious 16-year-old girl.</p> <p>The 17-year-olds, who were all charged as adults, face 21 felony counts that include rape, rape by a foreign object and administering a drug to incapacitate the victim.</p>

SANTA ANA – Federal and local authorities are investigating whether fired Orange County Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo used department resources to help market an anti-crime device made by a company that paid Jaramillo and his wife $25,000. Investigators from the FBI and the Orange County district attorney's office have interviewed officials with CHG Safety Technologies Inc. about the firm's relationship with Jaramillo, the company's attorney said. Sheriff's officials are investigating whether Jaramillo improperly used patrol cars, deputies and a helicopter to market the company's system, said department spokesman Jon Fleischman. Jaramillo's attorney, Peter Scalisi, did not immediately return calls Wednesday...