Carona talks of cash on tapes

Secretly recorded conversations unveiled Friday in the federal corruption case against former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona show him plotting to cover up illicit cash payments and gifts he received while in office, prosecutors allege.

In one section of the transcripts, according to prosecutors, Carona and his one-time confidant Don Haidl discuss money Haidl had paid the sheriff. Carona didn’t know that Haidl, a former assistant sheriff, was by then cooperating with the FBI and was wearing a wire.

“On my end, nothing’s traceable. It’s hidden,” Haidl tells Carona, explaining that money he had given Carona had come from a private safe.

“Well, on my end of it, completely untraceable, completely untraceable,” Carona responds.

“So we’re going to be . . . facing these guys at some point, I believe,” Haidl says, referring to federal authorities.

“Oh, I guarantee it,” Carona responds. “Guaran-damn-tee it.”

The obscenity-laden transcripts were contained in a motion by federal prosecutors opposing defense efforts to exclude the Haidl tapes as evidence against Carona, who is scheduled to go to trial June 10 on charges he sold access to his office for tens of thousands of dollars and tampered with a witness by trying to get Haidl to lie to a federal grand jury.

Carona, who resigned last month, has denied the charges. His lawyers declined to comment Friday. “We believe it’s most appropriate to present our arguments in court,” attorney Jeffrey Rawitz said.

Carona’s attorneys have maintained that it was improper and unethical for the government to send a representative to meet with Carona because Carona was represented by a lawyer when the conversations were recorded. They cite ethical guidelines that prohibit California lawyers from contacting parties who have attorneys, even through third parties.

In their motion, federal prosecutors argued that many appellate courts have held that such contact is appropriate and that because Carona was engaged in an attempt to obstruct justice, he cannot claim to be represented by counsel. Carona’s lawyer, “as an officer of the court, could not have known about the ongoing obstruction of justice,” according to the motion.

A hearing on the motion to suppress the conversations is scheduled for Feb. 29.

The transcripts cover about 20 minutes of conversation between Carona and Haidl during an Aug. 13 lunch meeting at the Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach, one of three meetings between the two men recorded last year.

At one point during a dialogue laced with profanity, Carona says he will deny receiving money from his former assistant sheriff.

“Unless there was a pinhole in your ceiling that evening, it never . . . happened,” Carona says. Prosecutors said “pinhole” was a reference to a hidden camera.

Carona, his wife and then-mistress were indicted in October on charges they conspired to enrich themselves through the power of his office.

Haidl has emerged as a key witness in the case. He has pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return and admitted to prosecutors that he made regular payments to Carona and the sheriff’s then-mistress, attorney Debra Hoffman. The indictment also alleges that Haidl gave Carona’s wife, Deborah, a $1,500 St. John Knits suit.

According to the indictment, Carona gave Haidl a “get out of jail free” pass -- making him an assistant sheriff even though he had no law enforcement experience, helping Haidl’s son get preferential treatment in a drug case and giving badges and guns to Haidl’s relatives and friends -- in exchange for the cash payments and other gifts.

The indictment also alleges that Haidl gave Carona a used $5,000 boat and that the two men tried to conceal the gift by creating the appearance of a purchase. In fact, prosecutors allege, Carona wrote Haidl a check for the boat and Haidl returned the money to Carona in cash.

During the lunch meeting, Carona says: “You did give me a boat, man. . . . And I couldn’t take a boat and I wrote a check for that.”

“I’m OK getting up on the stand and saying that,” Haidl says.

“It could be either one of us getting up on the stand and saying that,” Carona responds. Carona says he is not concerned that another former assistant sheriff, George Jaramillo, might testify that the boat was a gift and the check a sham payment.

Jaramillo and Haidl are both expected to testify as government witnesses against Carona.

“George can talk about it till the cows come home and I’m sure he believes that, but I don’t remember him being there. Unless, you know, he videotaped that,” Carona said.

Later in the conversation, prosecutors say, Haidl and Carona are discussing whether the government would be able to trace the cash payments. At that point, according to the transcripts, Haidl tells Carona that “as long as our stories are straight, I’m OK, as long as I know there’s no trail anywhere.”

“No trail anywhere,” Carona responds.

“OK,” Haidl says.

“Period,” Carona responds.

“OK,” Haidl repeats.

“Period. Period,” Carona says. “In fact, not even close to being a trail.”

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor now teaching at Loyola Law School, said she believed Carona’s statements in the recorded conversation were damaging.

“In many a case I’ve seen transcripts looking like this being a solid basis for an obstruction conviction. I certainly understand why the defense wants to suppress it,” she said.

Levenson also said she believed the defense would have a hard time persuading a judge to exclude the recordings from Carona’s trial.

In the last portion of the released transcript, the conversation turns to the investigation in general, with Carona musing that “these guys . . . wouldn’t ask for all this . . . if they didn’t think they had something.”

Carona adds: “And they’re not -- they’re annoying, but they’re not stupid.”

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christine.hanley@latimes.com

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com