Christine Hanley at the Los Angeles Times is reporting late night that Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona (pictured in a Newport Beach bar with convicted felon Rick Rizzolo, a Chicago Mafia associate) “has been indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from a lengthy investigation into allegations that he misused his office for financial gain.”
Larry Welborn and Peggy Lowe at the Orange County Register report tonight that George Jaramillo, Carona's handpicked ex-No. 2 at the department, secretly pleaded guilty in March in the same FBI corruption probe.
I could say, “I told you so,” but I've just finished an 18-hour day of work. More on this historic news tomorrow.
Here are a few reminders that this media outlet told you what you needed to know first about Carona, recently named by the Weekly as one of the “scariest” people in OC:
*Dirty, Stupid or Both: Never mind the photo, Sheriff Carona denies Mafia ties
*Calamity Mike: X-rated recording is latest blunder for OC sheriff
*Blazing Saddles: Sheriff Carona takes his posse on a European tour
*Sheriff Funny Guy: Carona’s ironic reign
*Carona Cover-Up: Sealed records show sheriff's complicity in scandal
*Fourth Sheriff Carona Pal Convicted of Crimes
*Sheriff Con: Carona lied about his complicity in pot-bust scandal
*It's Saturday Night: Do You Know Who Our Sheriff is Hugging?
— R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly / Orange County Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.