Sheriff Reaffirms Faith in Assistant

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona and top brass scrambled Monday to allay concerns over allegations that an assistant sheriff had been the subject of state investigations into allegedly fraudulent business practices.

Rank-and-file deputies have expressed fears over whether Assistant Sheriff Donald G. Haidl is fit to serve in the department, according to union officials, ever since word spread that Haidl had been investigated by state authorities over allegations that he and his auction company skimmed money from the sale of government vehicles.

Responding to a flood of calls from concerned deputies, Carona defended Haidl, who holds an unpaid position in charge of reserve deputies, as a “good man who gives selflessly.”

Carona and Haidl later met with the board of directors of the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. in an effort to calm union fears. After nearly eight hours of discussion, the board reserved judgment on the issue.

“The allegations presented a very disturbing picture,” said Robert J. MacLeod, general manager of the deputies association. “Our phones and pagers [have been] going off the hook.”

The incident marks the second time since his election in June that Carona has drawn fire from his deputies over a high-ranking appointment. . Last year, Carona had to soothe concerns when he chose his former campaign manager, George Jaramillo, as one of his five assistant sheriffs.

Jaramillo, a former Garden Grove police lieutenant, angered many deputies by filing a lawsuit alleging that the union and the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn. made illegal campaign expenditures for a rival candidate, Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters.

The issue initially created friction between the deputies union and the new sheriff, but relations have improved since then.

Haidl was investigated by Caltrans and the California Attorney General’s office in the 1980s over complaints that his company, Nationwide Auction Systems, underreported how much it received when it sold state-owned vehicles, interviews and documents show. No criminal charges were filed.

At a routine press conference Monday, Haidl said he would not resign his position over the allegations. “I will not back up from a fight like this,” he said. “I will not bail out on [Carona].”

Haidl also denied an allegation reportedly made by Walters that Haidl had tried to buy a sheriff’s department position by offering to help Walters’ fund-raising campaign.

Carona said he would initiate an investigation into the alleged incident with Walters. But Carona defended his appointment of Haidl, who worked as a fund-raiser for Carona’s election campaign.

Walters referred all questions to Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr., who did not return calls.

Carona said he was well aware of the allegations when he appointed Haidl, but believed that the claims lacked merit.

“Did we know about these issues? Absolutely,” Carona said. “Did we think that they were meritorious? Absolutely not.”

Haidl, who lives in Newport Beach, has worked since January as the assistant sheriff with responsibility for the department’s reserve deputies. Before that, the self-made millionaire worked for 13 years as a volunteer for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, where he rose to the rank of captain.

The state Attorney General’s office began investigating Haidl in 1989, according to an office spokesman, after a former Nationwide employee filed a whistle-blower suit.

Haidl settled the suit--thereby ending the investigation--in 1992. He agreed to pay $104,000 in claims to the state and the former employee, court documents show. The state received $10,000 in restitution for losing money from the alleged scheme, but Haidl continued to deny the accusations and does so today.

In an interview, Haidl said the allegations were “all coming from a disgruntled employee,” though he added that he was not sure what prompted an earlier investigation by Caltrans into similar allegations.

Haidl told the deputies union that his insurance company settled the case “solely in order to avoid attorney fees greatly in excess of the settlements,” according to a statement issued by the union.

A California Department of Justice spokesman said the investigation failed to uncover irrefutable proof of wrongdoing by Haidl.

“A lot of the evidence we gained wasn’t the sort of stuff that would lead you to believe that you have a slam-dunk case,” spokesman Nathan Barankin said.