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Deputy challenges incumbent sheriff in election By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
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reg Munks ran unopposed for re-election as San Mateo County sheriff in 2010. This time around, while the ballot for the June 3 election again lists Mr. Munks as the only candidate, he does have an opponent. Deputy Juan Lopez, a 26-year veteran in the Sheriff’s Office, is running a write-in campaign to replace his boss. Some of his priorities: more in-depth and varied training for deputies, reconstituting the sex-crimes unit, and a “proactive” approach to preventing crime. On his website, Mr. Lopez writes that he “will restore integrity to the leadership of the Office of Sheriff,” that Mr. Munks “is not the person to lead the law enforcement program,” and that Mr. Lopez will be a leader that voters can “respect and trust.” In April 2007, Mr. Munks and Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos were detained and questioned by police after they were found on the premises of a brothel located in an unmarked house in a residential neighborhood of Las Vegas. The raid was part of a federal initiative known as Operation Dollhouse. Did Mr. Lopez use the words “integrity,” “respect” and “trust” in reference to Operation Dollhouse? “You know, I really can’t say anything about that,” he said. “I wasn’t there and I don’t have first-hand knowledge.”
Then why use those words? They are ways of expressing concerns about transparency over a construction project, Mr. Lopez said. The public and deputies were not informed, he said, of a recent plan to demolish the motor pool and build new headquarters for the patrol divisions, the Office of Emergency Services and public information services. A county spokesman said the Board of Supervisors had held a public hearing on the new structure in August 2013 and approved the $16.25 million in funding for the building in September. Deputy Lopez said he is currently assigned to driving prisoners to and from court and medical appointments. “I have worked almost every division, position and assignment in this organization,” he added in an email. “From that experience, I have a keen understanding of what it takes to be successful in those positions, to move the organization forward and a real appreciation for the men and women who do the job.” Asked about his management experience, Mr. Lopez cited a restaurant he once managed where his responsibilities included overseeing employees, bank accounts, supplies and “the day-to-day routines of business,” he said. “I tried to reach a happy medium for everyone.” Mr. Munks is away and chose not to comment on Mr. Lopez’s
Juan P. Lopez
Gregory Munks
Experience: 26 years in the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Education: Associate’s degree in university studies from Canada College in Woodside; bachelor’s degree in vocational education and master’s degree in emergency services administration from California State University, Long Beach. More information: electjuan.com
Experience: 30 years in law enforcement, including 13 years as undersheriff in San Mateo County and eight as sheriff. Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Menlo College; master’s degree in business administration from Golden Gate University.
priorities, but did email a statement about his candidacy. “I am honored to be running alone on the ballot again which I believe is an acknowledgment of the progress and fine work that we have accomplished on behalf of our community,” he wrote. “I’m pleased to be able to stay focused on the challenges ahead and continue my efforts to make San Mateo County a safe place to live and work.”
The Sheriff’s Office would employ a “proactive” approach to crime prevention, including crime-trend analysis to prepare deputies and get ahead of criminals, and the vigorous encouragement of neighborhood watch programs. ■ Deputies would have more in-depth and varied training opportunities — gang, robbery and fraud case training, for example — which go beyond what he described as the “bare minimums” of CPR and how to “take people down.” Outside training is available, he said, but deputies are not reimbursed for expenses. ■ The sex-crimes unit would be reconstituted. The Sheriff’s Office folded that specialty into the major-crimes unit in 2007, in part due to funding cuts, but a fully staffed sex-crimes unit is still needed, Mr. Lopez said. The cases are “very labor intensive,” he said. “Unfortunately, it affects you in many ways. You go home after a non-stop day, you don’t sleep, you sit there and try to unwind. ... I was assigned to it
and I just couldn’t keep up.” The rate of sex crimes since 2007 “surely have grown,” he added. The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to inquiries about sex-crime trends in the county. How would he pay for these changes? “It can be done by redistributing funds, I’m sure,” Mr. Lopez said. Asked by email to comment on these priorities, Mr. Munks did not respond. A write-in campaign
On the issues
Enter the phrase “Juan Lopez for sheriff” in a web search engine and the first hit is Mr. Lopez’s campaign site, which includes a page of priorities should he be elected. A similar search for Mr. Munks turns up plenty of hits, but none about his 2014 candidacy and priorities for the next four years. A search of SmartVoter.org, the electioninformation site maintained by the League of Women Voters, showed nothing for either man. Among Mr. Lopez’s priorities:
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Mr. Lopez, who has not run for office before, told the Almanac that he wanted to have his name on the ballot, but that complications arose, in part because he waited until the last day and the last hour of the candidate filing period to complete his paperwork. At the counter at the Elections Office in San Mateo at about 4:10 p.m. on March 7, he said he learned for the first time that he needed the signatures of at least 20 registered voters on his nomination papers. He rushed out and got 20 signatures, but a traffic jam prevented him from getting back to the Elections Office in time to meet the 5 p.m. deadline, he said. Why did he wait so long? “I was pretty much waiting until the end so I could file without creating a problem at work,” he said. What might have happened at work? “I have no idea and I didn’t want to take any chances,” he said. In the weeks since, he said he has heard nothing untoward about his candidacy. A
Supes candidate says he questioned sheriff about Vegas incident By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
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or Greg Munks, the sheriff of San Mateo County and the incumbent in the June 3 election for his third four-year term, one question refuses to go away: What were he and Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos doing on an April night in 2007 when Las Vegas police and federal agents found them on the premises of a brothel located in an unmarked house in a residential neighborhood? Mr. Munks answered that question at the time with a statement that he has not publicly elaborated upon: that he had been seeking a massage after a relay run and that he “believed (he) was going into a legitimate business.” The raid on the brothel, referred to by federal agents as Operation Dollhouse, netted seven arrests, though not of
customers, and 3,500 tabs of ecstasy and $20,000 in cash. Mr. Munks and Mr. Bolanos were detained and questioned, then released. The subsequent investigation looked into whether the prostitutes were working as sex slaves, a Las Vegas officer said at the time. If Mr. Munks was wounded by that experience, the wound may have reopened April 29 while he was attending an invitationonly conference in Redwood Shores on the subject of gun violence in schools. The question to Sheriff Munks came from Mark De Paula, a resident of San Mateo who is challenging incumbent Supervisor Carole Groom in the election for county supervisor for District 2. It was a question Mr. De Paula said he’d heard while campaigning. “I had a quite a few people ask me about the Munks situation and whether he was exon-
8 N The Almanac N TheAlmanacOnline.com N May 21, 2014
erated by the FBI,” he told the Almanac. “I wanted to hear it directly from him.” The conference had not yet started, Mr. DePaula said, when he noticed Mr. Munks socializing in the seating area. He said he walked up to Mr. Munks,
The raid on the brothel netted seven arrests, though not of customers. introduced himself, said he had a question, and proposed that they step away from the gathering, which they did. Mr. De Paula said he asked Mr. Munks if the FBI had exonerated him in the Operation Dollhouse incident. According to Mr. De Paula, Mr. Munks replied to his question with a question of his own: “How dare you ask that question
here?” Mr. Munks then alluded to his reason for being there: to discuss gun violence in schools. Mr. De Paula said he followed up. “Sheriff Munks,” he said, “I’m just asking you a yes or no question.” Mr. De Paula said the sheriff then re-examined Mr. De Paula’s name tag and asked him who he was and what his name was, then walked over to Capt. Mark Wyss of the Sheriff’s Office and said: “This guy probably doesn’t belong here.” Asked to comment, Capt. Wyss told the Almanac that he had nothing more to say about the incident than what he told another newspaper, which was that he did not remember the sheriff saying that Mr. De Paula probably did not belong at the event. Mr. De Paula said he attempted to calm things down, to “neutralize it. I had a little bit of butterf lies in my stom-
ach.” He said that he walked to the lobby with Capt. Wyss and repeated that he had been looking for a yes or no answer and that he was surprised that Mr. Munks did not have a prepared answer seven years after the event. The Almanac attempted to get Mr. Munks’ account of the incident with Mr. De Paula, but he was not available for an interview. In an email, however, Mr. Munks commented: “Just a guy pulling a sophomoric campaign stunt at an inappropriate time and place,” he wrote. “The real story is the important work of that day focusing on the problem of school shootings and what we can do as a community to prevent/respond and recover from them.” As for Mr. De Paula, when the Almanac asked him what he would do if elected supervisor, he said he would ask for Mr. Munks’ resignation. A