Haidl says Carona had role in probe

Millionaire businessman Don Haidl testified Wednesday that former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona intervened in the prosecution of Haidl’s son in a high-profile sexual assault case “as a favor” but that the sheriff’s efforts succeeded only in angering the district attorney.

With Carona’s blessing, Haidl testified, Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo met with Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and tried to persuade him to try 17-year-old Gregory Haidl as a juvenile, a move that could have greatly reduced the time the teen could have spent behind bars.

But the effort backfired badly when Rackauckas concluded that Jaramillo was actually trying to threaten him and reported the meeting to federal investigators, Haidl said.

Haidl’s son was tried as an adult, convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.

Carona, who retired last year to focus on the criminal case against him, is on trial with his longtime mistress on charges they conspired with others to profit from the powers of his office.

Haidl has pleaded guilty to tax charges and is cooperating with the government. During four days on the witness stand, he told jurors he bankrolled Carona’s first campaign for sheriff, bribed him with cash and gave him gifts. In exchange, he said, he was told he would be appointed assistant sheriff, given full access to department resources and would have what he called a “get out of jail free card.”

On Wednesday, he told jurors that Carona tried to make good on the political favors after Gregory Haidl was arrested in connection with the July 2002 sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl during a party at the family’s hilltop home in Newport Beach.

Haidl said he recalled thinking at the time “that they at the very least owed me this.”

The attack was captured on videotape, and the case drew national attention. Gregory Haidl and two teenage friends were ultimately convicted and given six-year prison sentences. All have since been released.

Haidl’s reconstruction Wednesday of what happened behind the scenes in his son’s case puts Carona much closer to the case than previously reported.

He said Carona supported Jaramillo’s decision to drive to the San Bernardino home where the younger Haidl was living with his mother and intervene as Newport Beach police questioned the teen. He said Jaramillo kept Carona apprised by phone of what was happening.

“He felt it was fine that George had been there and acknowledged that George had been in touch with him and was keeping him posted,” Haidl said.

Later that week, Haidl said he and Carona met at sheriff’s headquarters to talk about the case shortly before Carona was scheduled to meet with Rackauckas.

After the meeting, Carona informed Haidl that his son was going to be arrested. Carona offered to serve as a “go-between” with the district attorney’s office “to try to help negotiate something, or help reduce [the charges], or help deal with it.” He said Carona also offered his home, which is in a gated community, as a “headquarters” where they could strategize without being hounded by the media.

It was ultimately decided that Jaramillo would approach Rackauckas and ask him to consider filing juvenile charges, Haidl said.

Rackauckas, in a statement issued Wednesday and separate from the ongoing corruption trial, said Jaramillo made negative statements about the victim in the sexual assault case and “implored me to go easy on Greg Haidl.”

Rackauckas said he reassured Jaramillo on several occasions that the defendants would be treated fairly but would not be given any special consideration. He said he also met with Carona and told him the same thing, and said it would be improper for the Sheriff’s Department to get involved. He said Carona agreed and reassured him that he would not intervene.

In the months that followed, Rackauckas said, Jaramillo continued to lobby him. He said Jaramillo insinuated to him and others that Don Haidl would bankroll a campaign against the district attorney if he did not go easy on Haidl’s son.

Rackauckas said he contacted the FBI after his last conversation with Jaramillo.

Don Haidl testified that he met with Carona in Costa Mesa, where the sheriff was scheduled to give a speech to members of his department.

“He looked up in the sky and said the feds are now involved [and] from here on out we have to be real careful,” Haidl recalled. “We were then concerned about surveillance.”

They met several times with Jaramillo and discussed “how we were going to keep the feds away, and make this thing go away,” Haidl said. They all agreed “everybody was to shut up,” meaning no one would talk to any federal investigators. And Carona said everyone should protect the sheriff “at all costs,” according to Haidl.

In March 2003, Carona received a letter from then-Newport Beach Police Chief Bob McDonell, complaining that Jaramillo and a ranking deputy interfered with his investigators as they attempted to question the younger Haidl. Carona dismissed the complaint and ridiculed McDonell, saying he was “going to send him a blow-off letter” and that “there was going to be no investigation” of Jaramillo’s behavior, Haidl said.

Haidl is expected to resume his testimony today.

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christine.hanley@latimes.com