Disgraced ex-Orange County sheriff convicted of witness tampering got $215,000 in ‘09 pension

Disgraced ex-Calif. sheriff got $215,000 pension

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A disgraced former Orange County sheriff convicted of witness tampering received about $215,000 in pension checks last year, one of hundreds of former employees to get big payouts as the county’s retirement system faces a huge shortfall.

Michael Carona was among 400 former county employees who received more than $100,000 in pension payments in 2009, according to documents released by the Orange County Employees Retirement System.

Also on the list was former treasurer-tax collector Robert Citron, whose investments — made while consulting psychics and astrologers — led Orange County into bankruptcy in 1994. Citron collected about $142,000 last year.

The county’s retirement system is facing a $3.7 billion unfunded liability.

The California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility filed a lawsuit against the system to get the list. The agency had claimed that pensioner privacy would be compromised by the release. A judge approved the release and the documents were released late last month.

In January of 2009, Carona was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for witness tampering. He was acquitted of charges he took bribes in exchange for the power of his office in a sweeping public corruption case that stretched back to 1998. The conviction involved a secretly recorded conversation in which Carona attempted to persuade a businessman to match his and other defendants’ stories in front of the grand jury.

He is free on bail pending an appeal.

Citron funneled billions of public dollars into questionable investments, and at first the returns were high and cities, schools and special districts borrowed millions to join in the investments.

But the strategy backfired, and Citron’s investment pool lost $1.64 billion. Nearly $200 million had to be slashed from the county budget and more than 1,000 jobs were cut. The county was forced to borrow $1 billion.

The release of the documents has reopened debate on the pension plan for retired public safety workers approved in 2001 when Carona was sheriff.

Called “3 percent at 50,” it lets deputies retire at age 50 with 3 percent of their highest year’s pay for every year of service. Before it was approved and applied retroactively, employees received 2 percent.

“It was right after Sept. 11,” said Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach. “All of a sudden, public safety people became elevated to god status. The Board of Supervisors were tripping over themselves to make the motion.”

He called it “one of the biggest shifts of money from the private sector to the public sector.”

Moorlach, who was not on the board when the plan was approved, led the fight to repeal the benefit. A lawsuit, which said the benefit should go before voters, was rejected in Los Angeles County Superior Court last year and is now under appeal.

Carona opposed the lawsuit when it was filed, likening its filing to a “nuclear bomb” for deputies.