Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona intends to return to work Monday, ending a 60-day paid leave of absence initiated after he was charged with corruption in a federal grand jury indictment.
It remained unclear how much time Carona would spend in the sheriff's Santa Ana headquarters when he returns to work.
In a statement, the department said Undersheriff Jo Ann Galisky would continue to handle day-to-day operations after Carona's return.
Federal prosecutors allege that Carona sold access to his office in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts -- including World Series and Las Vegas boxing tickets -- and failed to report them on state conflict-of-interest disclosure forms.
Carona's wife, Deborah, and former mistress, Debra V. Hoffman, were also named in the indictment.
After pleading not guilty to the charges in November, Carona announced that he would take the paid leave "in order to devote my full time and energy toward battling the untrue and baseless charges made against my wife, Debbie and me."
His attorney said the sheriff has been working diligently on his defense during the last two months. Some members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors criticized Carona's decision to take a leave of absence, saying it amounted to an abandonment of his duties.
Supervisor John M.W. Moorlach had proposed giving the board the authority to remove Carona or any indicted elected county official from office, a step supervisors did not take.
On Thursday, Moorlach and Supervisor Chris Norby said they still believed the sheriff should step down. The union that represents Orange County sheriff's deputies has also called on Carona to resign.
"When you're distracted, it's really hard to do your job," Moorlach said. "So we're not going to get a full sheriff while he's in the middle of this process."
Carona, as an elected sheriff, is paid a salary and can work as much or as little as he wants without taking vacation, sick time or leave.
State law allows for the removal of an elected official who vacates office for 90 consecutive days. All Carona would have to do is place a single business-related telephone call to avoid that consequence, Norby said.
Even though he would prefer it if Carona resigned, Norby said, he was pleased that the sheriff had chosen to end his leave of absence.
