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Friday, February 29th, 2008 by sgreenhut

 Anderson’s law-breaking should disqualify him as sheriff

 

From Steven Greenhut

The Register’s Peggy Lowe reported today that the state attorney general ruled that acting Sheriff Jack Anderson, the hand-picked successor by indicted ex-Sheriff Mike “it’s untraceable” Carona, broke the law “when he appeared before the San Clemente City Council in uniform last year to urge it not to endorse another candidate for sheriff.”

He won’t be prosecuted. But the law-breaking does show the degree to which Anderson is a highly political animal, and a close ally to the bad old corrupt regime. This should take him out of the running as permanent replacement for Carona. 

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The Orange County Register
Friday, February 29, 2008
 
Two assistant sheriffs out in wake of grand jury probe
Jo Ann Galisky is released, Steve Bishop resigns over their handling of investigation of jail beating death.
 
By PEGGY LOWE and TONY SAAVEDRA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
 
Two top Orange County Sheriff's officials abruptly left the department Friday in the wake of a grand jury investigation that questioned the department's actions following the beating death of jail inmate John Derek Chamberlain.
 
In October, Carona was indicted on federal corruption charges and later resigned. Before stepping down, he fired Assistant Sheriff Dan Martini.

John Moorlach, chairman of the county board of supervisors, said late Friday that the departure of Galisky and Bishop were tied to "decisions" made in the department's investigation of the Chamberlain killing."Some decisions were made and there's an impact to those decisions and we're seeing it today," Moorlach said.

Law enforcement and county officials contacted by The Orange County Register would not say what exactly the two officials did to earn the ire of the special grand jury, whose members were released Thursday. But indictments of more inmates were expected next week, and yet to come is a report from prosecutors on the proceedings.
 
At the center of what one law enforcement official called a grand jury "tsunami" aimed at the sheriff's department is the Oct. 5, 2006 killing of Chamberlain, a 41-year-old computer technician awaiting trial at Theo Lacy jail on charges of possessing child pornography. An Orange County Register investigation found that a senior deputy was watching television in the guard station while inmates beat and tortured Chamberlain for up to 20-minutes, stomping on his head and dousing him with scalding water. The same deputy also changed the official duty logs to reflect that Chamberlain had refused an offer earlier that day to move him to another ward.

Seven inmates have been charged with the killing, including one who accused the senior deputy, Kevin Taylor, of instigating the beating by inaccurately outing Chamberlain as a child molester, the Register found. Despite a potential conflict, sheriff's officials refused to allow the Orange County District Attorney's Office to conduct the homicide investigation, electing to keep the probe in house. No deputies were charged or were placed on leave.

The backlash over the investigation lead to the recent creation by county supervisors of an independent office to oversee the county jails as well as the formation of the special grand jury, which pored over thousands of pages of transcripts and subpoenaed top sheriff's officials.

Galisky's release after 24 years brought to a skidding halt a career that saw her briefly take the reins of the department in Carona's absence.

Bishop was a 31-year veteran who was named an assistant sheriff in 2003, who did stints in internal affairs and as a jail watch commander.

Register staff writers Norberto Santana, Larry Welborn and Rachanee Srisavasdi contributed to this report
 
 
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The Los Angeles Times
8:38 PM PST, February 29, 2008
 
2 top O.C. sheriff's officials leave posts
 
One was fired, another resigned. The departures come a day after completion of a report about a jail beating death.
 
By Christine Hanley and Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

 
In a significant shake-up at the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Assistant Sheriff Jo Ann Galisky was fired and colleague Steve Bishop resigned today in moves stemming from a grand jury investigation of an inmate's beating death.

Both officials were appointed assistants by former Sheriff Michael S. Carona, who is now facing trial on charges that he misused his public office to enrich himself and others, including his wife and mistress. Neither Galisky nor Bishop explained their departures.

The housecleaning came a day after a special grand jury impaneled by the district attorney's office completed a nine-month investigation into the October 2006 fatal beating of John Chamberlain at the Theo Lacy Jail, run by the department. The findings have been temporarily sealed.

John Moorlach, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, confirmed that both moves were connected to the investigation.

The sheriff's department investigated the death itself rather than referring the case to the district attorney's office, breaking a 20-year-old policy designed to avoid possible conflicts of interest. At the time, Galisky oversaw jail operations and Bishop was in charge of investigations.

Chamberlain, a 41-year-old Mission Viejo computer technician, was attacked by about 20 inmates who believed he had been charged with child molestation. In fact, Chamberlain had been accused of possessing child pornography.

One of the inmates charged in the murder alleged that a jail guard allegedly said Chamberlain was a molester. And hours before Chamberlain was killed, his public defender called jail officials to warn that his client felt his life was in danger and urged them to place him in protective custody. He was not moved.
 
 
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