Former undersheriff pleads guilty as Santa Clara County corruption saga ends
A former undersheriff in Santa Clara County pleaded guilty to felony bribery, the District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Rick Sung was second in command to former Sheriff Laurie Smith and was charged with taking part in a scheme to leverage the issuance of gun permits to get Apple computers and a luxury suite at San Jose Sharks games.
Sung was indicted along with former Capt. James Jensen in 2020 for requesting bribes for concealed firearm, or CCW, licenses as part of a far-reaching corruption scandal that hobbled the entire Sheriff’s Office.
Jensen, a former spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, was sentenced to 10 months in jail for his role in the scheme. The office used the gun licenses as pay-to-play leverage to get political donations, favors, and other in-kind perks.
Five other people from the Sheriff’s Office were convicted, and Smith resigned as sheriff.
Sung used his gun licensing power to get computers.
“(Sung and Jensen) held back the issuing of CCW permits to the Apple security team until the tech giant’s head of security agreed to donate close to $70,000 worth of iPads to the Sheriff’s Office,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said when Sung was indicted.
Sung is now required to sign an official form permanently surrendering his California peace officer certification and complete 400 hours of community service. This outcome was the result of a negotiated disposition reached after Sung’s earlier trial ended in a hung jury.
The investigation by the DA’s Office began shortly after the 2018 election, based on a tip that an individual had made an unusually large campaign contribution to an independent expenditure committee that had supported the former sheriff’s reelection that year, Rosen’s office said in a statement.
That investigation led to the prosecution and conviction of several employees of AS Solution Inc., an executive protection security company, among others, including a jury verdict against Jensen for conspiring with them to make donations in return for the licenses to carry concealed weapons, prosecutors said.
Smith resigned in 2022 shortly before a jury in San Jose would find her guilty of six counts of corruption and misconduct filed by a civil grand jury. She was barred from public service for life.
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