Orange County Sheriff S Department

When the body was found along a lonely stretch of Coast Highway last May, sheriff's investigators were sure that someone would eventually identify the victim. She had an unmistakable look: bleached-blond hair, a curved spine and a gaping hole in her mouth where four front teeth were missing. "It just seems like someone should be able to identify her," said Lt. Richard Olson of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. More than six months later, nobody has.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department will lay off one of its highest-ranking officers as well as 23 professional staff members this month as it grapples with a budget shortfall of more than $50 million. Among those who will lose their jobs is Assistant Sheriff Michael Hillmann, a four-decade veteran of the LAPD hired by Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to help lead the department in the wake of corruption allegations against her predecessor. Hillmann, 64, ran into controversy early on when he was caught sending text messages mocking activists and board members during a Board of Supervisors meeting early last year on the department's gun permit policies.

A veteran CHP officer who said he was shot during a traffic stop last summer concocted the story, sheriff's officials charged Friday, wasting at least $40,000 in public funds spent on the ensuing manhunt and three-month investigation. Sheriff's Department sources said detectives were almost immediately suspicious about the shooting because of two factors: No blood was found at the scene, and the patrolman's wounds resembled those made by the type of handguns issued to CHP officers.

A onetime assistant sheriff and trusted aide of convicted former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona was sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison for scheming to defraud the public of honest services and filing a false tax return. In a voice husky with emotion, George Jaramillo apologized to the court and said, "I am here to say that I am profoundly sorry for what I have done. While I did not set out to commit crimes, my cavalier and irresponsible mode . . . was criminal." Carona appointed Jaramillo as assistant sheriff in 1999 and fired him in March 2004, after rumors spread that a federal investigation of the Sheriff's Department was underway.

A onetime assistant sheriff and trusted aide of convicted former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona was sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison for scheming to defraud the public of honest services and filing a false tax return. In a voice husky with emotion, George Jaramillo apologized to the court and said, "I am here to say that I am profoundly sorry for what I have done. While I did not set out to commit crimes, my cavalier and irresponsible mode . . . was criminal." Carona appointed Jaramillo as assistant sheriff in 1999 and fired him in March 2004, after rumors spread that a federal investigation of the Sheriff's Department was underway.

It's 1970, white eye shadow is still in, and you've just graduated from the Orange County Sheriff's Department academy, first in your class. Fast forward to 1976. After a rapid rise through the ranks, its time to transfer to an undercover drug detail. Meet your new partner, one Wayne Carlander. He's a sunflower-seed-chomping, clever veteran who's talked robbers into surrendering and turning over the loot, all without moving his 300-pound, 6-feet-6 body from his desk.

The Orange County sheriff's vehicle pursuit policy, which imposes strict guidelines on when an officer may initiate a chase, was lauded Thursday as a model for other major Southern California law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department will lay off one of its highest-ranking officers as well as 23 professional staff members this month as it grapples with a budget shortfall of more than $50 million. Among those who will lose their jobs is Assistant Sheriff Michael Hillmann, a four-decade veteran of the LAPD hired by Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to help lead the department in the wake of corruption allegations against her predecessor. Hillmann, 64, ran into controversy early on when he was caught sending text messages mocking activists and board members during a Board of Supervisors meeting early last year on the department's gun permit policies.

A Florida-based communications firm could lose its hold on an $80-million Orange County law enforcement communications contract for failing to meet technical standards demanded by a special review team, officials said Monday. Although the Harris Corp. enjoyed the support of Sheriff Brad Gates in winning tentative approval for one of the biggest contracts in recent county history, officials said the firm could not satisfy terms necessary for final approval by the Board of Supervisors.

Federal agents Wednesday arrested eight men they say are associated with a Southern California-based smuggling ring responsible for shipping an estimated 660 pounds of cocaine each month -- worth about $60 million a year -- to cities around the country. "It was a very large-scale operation," said Terri Flynn, the assistant U.S. attorney set to prosecute the case in Orange County. "Our goal was to dismantle the trafficking."

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens on Monday unveiled a dramatic reorganization of the department that will consolidate such major services as operations and investigations and cut captains who oversee training and special projects. The changes combine similar services under one supervisor and increase the sheriff's role in overall operations. They are intended to help offset the department's $28-million budget shortfall. Over the last three weeks, Hutchens has personally informed each member of her command staff whether they will stay or go. Those leaving include Assistant Sheriffs Jack Anderson and John B. Davis, as well as Capts.

As Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens outlined $21.6 million in department budget cuts -- including an unprecedented layoff of 42% of the command staff -- to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, she also warned that next year's budget would probably be worse. Hutchens will lay off six of 14 captains and two of four assistant sheriffs to avoid laying off 16 investigators and two sergeants. The move will save the department $2.2 million.

After weeks of wrangling, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens will present the Board of Supervisors today with restructuring plans that include $20.5 million in cuts -- the most significant in the department's history. "These are services that we believe are quite important to maintaining public safety, that we're not just going to be able to continue," sheriff's spokesman John McDonald said.

Convicted former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona may remain free pending appeal today even though it is his official surrender date. Carona, 53, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford to begin serving a 5 1/2 -year prison term starting today. Although it is his official surrender date, Carona has a "bail pending appeal" motion before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which means that his actual surrender date will be tied to the court's ruling, said Thom Mrozek of the U.S. attorney's office.

A former Orange County assistant sheriff who was fired and sent to jail in a perjury conviction is in line to get a big pay day -- about three years of back pay with benefits for wrongful termination. The tentative ruling in the wrong termination case was issued Friday by Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew Banks.

After weeks of growing tension between Orange County's top law enforcement agencies, the district attorney Tuesday offered what he said was clear evidence that sheriff's deputies changed their stories and held to a "code of silence" in an assault case that ended with prosecutors dropping charges against a veteran deputy.

A case that began with the dog-naping of Shavin-Kingsmere Notty Nada ended quietly with the negotiated settlement of a lawsuit Monday, almost four years after anyone involved had seen the champion bull terrier. Five people have agreed to pay $160,000 to settle the suit filed in Van Nuys Superior Court by a Northridge physician who contended they stole the dog from her back yard.

In a move touted by officials as a way to reinforce local government's anti-drug philosophy, Orange County has been negotiating to implement random drug testing within the Sheriff's Department. If approved by the 1,192-member Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, the department would become only the second law enforcement agency in the county to adopt such a policy.

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.