Sheriff Gave Drug Money to Public Agencies

SAN DIEGO — Sheriff John Duffy provided more than $60,000 in seized drug proceeds--which he had deposited in a secret checking account--to government agencies, according to a summary of the account released Wednesday under court order.

Superior Court Judge Harrison Hollywood, who had ordered Duffy on Tuesday to turn over the more than $1 million left in the account, ordered the sheriff Wednesday to explain during a hearing how he had spent the money.

Almost all of the $61,802 went to the district attorney’s office for its participation in drug busts and to various city governments that contract with the Sheriff’s Department for service and are entitled to share in the proceeds from drug raids.

Duffy also spent $5,400 for an attorney to defend himself in a civil lawsuit, according to the summary. County auditors warned Duffy in June that spending drug money for attorneys was improper when they discovered that he paid nearly $70,000 earlier this year to the same law firm for work on the suit.

The county’s sheriff for 20 years, Duffy did not seek reelection. His last term has been marked by continual controversy. He has feuded with the Board of Supervisors for months over who controls money and property seized in drug raids.

Duffy had control of the money until July, when supervisors voted to usurp his spending authority. Duffy had wanted to spend $450,000 on laptop computers for his department. The supervisors wanted the money spent on security measures at the jail in Chula Vista.

Duffy lost the battle, but decided he would not let county supervisors determine how the money was spent. In September, he opened the secret account with the San Diego office of Security Pacific National Bank.

Duffy wrote 15 checks, mostly to the district attorney’s office and to the cities of Vista, Encinitas, Poway, Lemon Grove and San Marcos, governments that contract with the Sheriff’s Department and share in proceeds from drug busts.

Duffy wrote a check Tuesday for $1,044,429, the entire amount left in the account, which Harrison had ordered him to deposit in a court-controlled trust fund.

Harrison has asked retired Superior Court Judge William Yale to mediate the dispute involving Duffy, the supervisors, the county counsel and the sheriff-elect.