Government Exhibit 1- "The lines and boxes under column A represent Sheriff Carona's schemes. Those under column B represent Sheriff Carona's love affairs."
Listening to the testimony of ex-Mike Carona crony, Don Haidl is starting to remind me of the old black sitcom from my childhood, Amos and Andy. (Good luck trying to find any old episodes-they've been blacklisted as racist.) In a typical episode, George "Kingfish" Stevens always had a new scam going that he would try to drag Andy into. Such is the life and career of former Orange County Sheriff ("America's Sheriff") Mike Carona, who is on trial for bribery. It seems that (according to Haidl's testimony) Carona was careening from one love affair to another and from one scam to another.
Haidl was back on the stand today for the 4th day testifying about his relationship with Carona and explaining taped conversations that he secretly recorded with the ex-Sheriff. In one of their get-rich-quick schemes, Haidl, co-conspirator ex-Asst Sheriff George Jaramillo, and Carona were planning to make a deal with some unidentified doctor that made body scan machines. In the deal, Carona would require every one of his deputies to take an annual body scan and the doctor or his company would kick back money to Carona, Haidl and Jaramillo.
In another scheme, Haidl testified about plans to get an LA Sheriffs Deputy to refer cases to their favorite crooked attorney, Joe Cavallo.
And then Haidl testified about their plans to make a deal with somebody who wanted to set up a paintball amusement park in Orange County (I'm not making this up, folks). Under this scheme, Carona would go to the Orange County Board of Supervisors to arrange zoning permits for the land and, in return, get a payment of 25,000 from the paintball proprietor.
But wait! There's more! Haidl further testified about a scheme to have some Orange County prisoners transferred to a private jail facility run by some guy named Rod Cedillos-in return for.....you guessed it-cash. According to Haidl, the relationship went sour because Carona suspected that Mr Cedillos was hitting on Carona's mistress-co-defendant, Debra Hoffman. Haidl also added that Carona intended to run away with Ms Hoffman, who he (Carona)got appointed to a state juvanile board in Sacramento and hired her husband, Robert Schroff, so he could keep an eye on him. (if you are getting confused refer to the above flow chart.)
But wait! There's still more. Haidl further testified about a scheme whereby Carona got illegal campaign contributions from a businessman named Charles Gabbard, who wanted Carona to promote legislation that would have required every police car to be outfitted by an anti-police pursuit device, made by Gabbard's company, naturally.
Speaking of which, Haidl also described Carona's concern about a sexual harassment complaint that had been filed by a Sheriff's female employee against Jaramillo because he feared it might come out that he (Carona) had been having a relationship with the lady.
It seems one would need a flow-chart to keep track of all of Mike's girlfriends.
Then there was the infamous gang-rape case a few years back against Haidl's son, Greg and two other punks (they were convicted). It was this case and the resultant scandal of Don Haidl's relationship with Carona that fueled the investigation into the whole mess in the Sheriff's Dept. In this case, the Newport Beach PD Chief wrote an angry letter to Carona complaining about Jaramillo coming into his jurisdiction and trying to dissuade witnesses from cooperating. This reportedly led to a meeting between Jaramillo and OC DA Tony Rackaukas, in which Jaramillo reportedly threatened Rackaukas. According to Haidl's testimony, Carona was concerned that Rackaukas would go directly to the Justice Dept.
Finally, Haidl has testified about his gift of a water-ski boat to Carona. This was camoflaged by Carona writing a check to Haidl to make it look like a purchase. Haidl then gave the money back to Carona in cash. Unfortunately, there were witnesses to the cash handover, so he and Carona manufactured a bogus conversation in front of the witnesses to make it look like Haidl was reimbursing Carona for needed repairs on the boat.
Haidl is expected to finish his direct testimony tomorrow, at which time, he will be cross-examined. The defense has been saying from the outset that Haidl is not a man who can be trusted. True enough, but this is the man that Mike Carona chose to be his Asst. Sheriff and friend.
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