Michael S Carona

Mike Carona's fall from "America's Sheriff" to convicted felon reached bottom Monday as a federal judge gave Orange County's former top law enforcement officer a half-hour lecture about honesty before sentencing him to 5 1/2 years in prison for attempting to obstruct a grand jury investigation. "I need a sheriff I can trust," U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford told Carona. "Lying will not be tolerated in this courtroom, especially by the county's highest-ranking law enforcement officer."

After months of testimony, national headlines and the profanity-laced audiotapes, the sweeping public corruption case against former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona may end up coming down to the testimony of one man: Don Haidl.

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.

There was no playbook for dealing with the public, no secret list of do's and don'ts squirreled away in a drawer just in case a 5-year-old girl was kidnapped, sexually abused and murdered. So Michael S. Carona, only a few months from the end of his first four-year term as Orange County sheriff, made up the playbook himself last week, using personal appearances to organize "a modern-day posse" of investigators, the media and the public in a desperate hunt for a little girl, then for her killer.

Is Michael S. Carona required to step down as Orange County sheriff because he has been indicted? No. California law would force him out of his job only if he is convicted of a felony. Has an indicted sheriff ever remained in office? Yes. Two California sheriffs have been indicted on public corruption charges since 1989. Both stayed in office several months before resigning. Each was eventually convicted of the crimes. Can the Orange County Board of Supervisors force Carona out?

Rewarding political allies with high-profile law enforcement jobs can backfire, a lesson some say Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona is now learning. In 1998, Carona won special dispensation from the Board of Supervisors to appoint former Garden Grove Police Lt. George Jaramillo, who also was his campaign manager, as his assistant sheriff in charge of operations.

Two of his former aides are facing criminal prosecution. Federal agents have subpoenaed his financial and administrative records. State investigators are examining his conduct with women. And he's the sheriff. Scandals and controversies have clouded Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona's public and private lives, dimming the prospects of a man whose political future once seemed unlimited.

As Michael S. Carona sat handcuffed in federal court Wednesday, Orange County officials faced the problem of fighting crime while their sheriff fights corruption charges. Carona's federal indictment has made some county officials uncomfortable with him remaining in office, but they said they had few options. County Supervisor John Moorlach proposed a ballot measure Wednesday that would allow the board to remove Carona, but it would take four months to get it before voters.

Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona instructed an employee to lie to investigators about a sexual relationship she had with him, federal prosecutors alleged in a motion filed Friday. Prosecutors asked U.S. Dist. Judge Andrew J. Guilford to allow them to call the woman as a witness at Carona's upcoming corruption trial because, they say, she could corroborate a charge that he encouraged another witness to lie to a grand jury.

More than 40 business executives and other professionals appointed as special reserve deputies by erstwhile Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona have reported their badges and IDs lost or stolen, including his chief political and legal advisor Michael Schroeder -- who lost two shields.

Mike Carona's fall from "America's Sheriff" to convicted felon reached bottom Monday as a federal judge gave Orange County's former top law enforcement officer a half-hour lecture about honesty before sentencing him to 5 1/2 years in prison for attempting to obstruct a grand jury investigation. "I need a sheriff I can trust," U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford told Carona. "Lying will not be tolerated in this courtroom, especially by the county's highest-ranking law enforcement officer."

If a judge takes the lead from probation officers, former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona could face 6 1/2 years in prison for leaning on his assistant to lie to a grand jury that was investigating the administration of the state's second-largest sheriff's agency. A probation report, which recommends that the man once dubbed "America's sheriff" serve 78 months in federal prison for witness tampering, was issued last week and was immediately sealed.

A federal judge Thursday dismissed charges against the wife and former mistress of ex-Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona, who was acquitted earlier this month of charges that he took bribes in exchange for the powers of his office. U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford ordered that related charges against Deborah Carona and Debra Hoffman be dropped, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Kenneth Julian.

Two weeks after a federal jury acquitted former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona on corruption charges, prosecutors announced Wednesday that they plan to drop charges against Carona's wife and his former mistress involving the same alleged conspiracy. Carona's wife, Deborah, and his one-time mistress, Debra Hoffman, were accused of accepting either cash or expensive gifts from former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl and failing to report them on financial disclosure forms.

Two jurors in the high-profile corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona complained to the judge during deliberations that they felt intimidated and pressured to side with the ex-lawman, according to interviews and jurors' notes unsealed Wednesday. The revelations provide a glimpse into the strained and sometimes awkward deliberations that unfolded inside the jury room before the panel returned its verdict Friday and acquitted Carona of five felonies.

They listened to the government's secretly recorded tapes over and over. They heard what the prosecution's star witness had to say and didn't believe him. Yet in the end, the jurors who acquitted former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona of five of six felonies Friday were most swayed by U.S. Dist. Judge Andrew Guilford's instruction that they must keep an eye on the calendar.

Before beginning deliberations Thursday, jurors in the corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona listened one last time to undercover tapes that prosecutors say capture him plotting to cover up a trail of cash and gifts from Newport Beach millionaire Don Haidl. Assistant U.S. Atty.

After months of testimony, national headlines and the profanity-laced audiotapes, the sweeping public corruption case against former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona may end up coming down to the testimony of one man: Don Haidl.

Prosecutors on Tuesday painted a disturbing picture of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona's management of California's second-largest sheriff's department, citing testimony that he accepted secret cash payments, had numerous illicit sexual affairs, and provided badges and concealed weapons licenses to campaign contributors. In his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Atty.

Before they were interrupted by an extended holiday recess, jurors in the federal corruption trial of "America's sheriff" had listened to hours of testimony and undercover tapes that prosecutors said chronicled the alleged bawdy behavior, bribes and blatant greed that framed the indictment of Michael S. Carona.