The saga down in San Mateo County over the board of supervisors' effort to remove Sheriff Christa Corpus can add a fresh lawsuit to its roster, this one from the sheriff's alleged lover and former chief of staff, Victor Aenlle.

Aenlle (pronounced ay-en-jay) has filed a 114-page civil rights complaint, as KTVU reports, suing the county and its board, alleging retaliation, wrongful termination, abuse of power, and defamation. The suit contends that county officials "deprived [Aenlle] of procedural and substantive due process, and retaliated against him for protected speech and association in support of Sheriff Corpus."

The suit further alleges that county supervisors defamed and wrongfully fired Aenlle  late last year, deeming him "unsafe" and "not lawfully allowed to wear a badge or carry a gun." And the suit contends that Aenlle was deemed guilty by association as Corpus was the "target of [a] smear campaign."

"This case is about standing up for the fundamental rights of every American — free speech, due process, and equal protection under the law," Aenlle said in a statement. "If they can do this to me, they can do it to anyone."

Corpus faced a 10-day administrative hearing before the board of supervisors, with a retired judge presiding, last month, in accordance with the charter amendment approved by voters in March that created a process for the sheriff's removal.

The special election followed months in which Corpus refused calls for her resignation, and she has continued to deny the many allegations against her in a 400-page investigative report that was commissioned by the board last year, and was released in November. Among the allegations is the claim that Corpus and Aenlle had been in an extended extramarital affair, before and after she was elected, and that her hiring of Aenlle as her second-in-command, despite his lack of law enforcement experience, constituted a conflict of interest.

The county fired Aenlle in December, and that occurred amid other dramas, including the arrest of the head of the sheriff's deputies union, Carlos Tapia who was accused by Corpus of "grand theft." The actual accusation had to do with time-card fraud, and those charges were soon dismissed.

Separate from the board of supervisors' hearing, Corpus has also been accused of retaliation and conflict of interest by a civil grand jury, and that case has not yet gone to trial. The judge in the administrative hearing is expected to deliver a recommendation regarding the grounds for Corpus's removal within 45 days.

While Corpus and Aenlle have continued to deny their romantic relationship, a former ally of Corpus and employee of the sheriff's office, Valerie Barnes, testified last month to multiple specific instances in which the relationship seemed like an open secret — including claims of inappropriate workplace comments by Aenlle.

The pair were also seen by a former sworn employee of the department on an airplane together in September 2022, traveling to Hawaii with Corpus's children. Corpus testified that she had asked Aenlle, as a trusted friend and colleague, to accompany her autistic son on the flight in order to help calm him.

The November report had also included the detail that Corpus's husband, also employed at the department, was told he couldn't come on the Hawaii trip because there was no seat for him on the plane. And it alleged that Aenlle had purchased a pair of expensive diamond earrings for the sheriff. Corpus contends that she purchased the earrings for herself.

Previously: Former Ally Testifies About Evidence of San Mateo County Sheriff's Romantic Relationship That She Denies