Some Charges Dropped in O.C. Corruption Case

Orange County prosecutors Thursday agreed to drop charges against the sister-in-law of former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo in exchange for her grand jury testimony in a public corruption case, her lawyer said.

Erica Hill was granted full immunity by the Orange County district attorney’s office and the charges against her will be dismissed next week, according to her attorney, Joseph P. Smith. Hill testified for two hours Thursday and is scheduled to resume her testimony today, Smith said.

“The Orange County district attorney’s office now recognizes what we’ve said all along: that there’s no basis for criminal charges against my client,” Smith said. “They’ve already signed the agreement to drop the charges.”

Smith is not allowed to discuss his client’s specific testimony. But he said he had no reason to believe she would be testifying against Jaramillo, and that was not part of the deal.

“My client is unaware of any criminal wrongdoing by George Jaramillo. And I expect she will testify to that before the grand jury,” Smith said.

The district attorney’s office could not be reached after the day’s grand jury proceedings adjourned.

Jaramillo’s attorney, Joseph G. Cavallo, said that his client has volunteered to testify before the grand jury and that the prosecution’s strategy to grant immunity to Hill or any other witnesses would ultimately prove futile because Jaramillo was innocent.

“I know they want George really badly,” Cavallo said. “There isn’t any criminality on the part of George Jaramillo. So no matter what level of immunity they grant Hill ... at the end of the day it doesn’t matter.”

Prosecutors allege that from 2000 to 2002, Jaramillo misused deputies, patrol cars and other county resources to stage demonstrations for a computer chip made by CHG Safety Technologies, a Newport Beach company that paid him as a consultant.

The firm was seeking support for legislation that would require its chip -- designed to disable vehicles in chases -- to be installed in every California vehicle.

At the time, Jaramillo was a paid consultant for CHG and Hill was an employee of the firm.

In a criminal complaint filed last year, prosecutors charged Jaramillo with six felony counts of misappropriation of public funds and four misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charges. Hill was charged with three counts of misappropriation of public funds for allegedly helping Jaramillo.

Both Jaramillo and Hill pleaded not guilty.