Millionaire businessman Don Haidl testified Thursday that he bribed former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona and former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo with cash payments of $1,000 a month each for more than three years.
Initially, the money was handed over in envelopes to the two men near the beginning of each month, usually at Haidl's hilltop home in Newport Beach, he testified. Eventually, Haidl said, he made quarterly payments of $3,000 as it became more difficult to obtain cash on such a regular basis.
Haidl, who became one of Carona's assistants, has been cooperating with the prosecution and is one of the government's key witnesses in the corruption case against the former sheriff.
During Haidl's testimony, prosecutors played portions of audiotapes that the businessman secretly recorded during conversations with the sheriff. The recordings, which were hard to hear in the courtroom, allegedly capture Carona acknowledging he took the cash payments and expressing confidence they would get away with it as long as they kept their stories straight.
Haidl agreed to tape the conversations, which are filled with racial slurs and crude language, as part of a plea deal with the government.
"He's saying if we both get the same story, and if we both lie, we won't get caught," Haidl said as he interpreted one of the recorded exchanges with the sheriff.
Carona and his longtime mistress, Debra V. Hoffman, are charged with selling access to the sheriff's office for cash and gifts. Carona's wife also has been charged but awaits a separate trial. Haidl pleaded guilty to tax fraud and has been cooperating with the government for nearly two years. Jaramillo also pleaded guilty to tax charges and is also expected to testify against Carona.
In earlier testimony, Haidl admitted to illegally funneling at least $30,000 into Carona's first campaign in 1998, and giving the sheriff access to his yacht and planes, and paying for vacations and other expenses. In return, he said, he was provided the full power of the Sheriff's Department and business deals that would make him and other members of the sheriff's inner circle rich.
On Thursday, Haidl said that the bribes he paid to Carona and Jaramillo began after the first election in 1998 and continued until 2002. He said he decided to start paying them monthly "allowances" because they seemed to be getting too excited about all the freebies they suddenly had access to once Carona was in office. He said he feared the pair's greed might jeopardize their plan to get Carona elected to higher office.
