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Apple Inc.’s global security chief and Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriff are among those charged in alleged bribery scheme in which iPads valued at $ 70,000 were to be donated to the sheriff’s office County of Santa Clara in exchange for concealed firearms licenses, according to an indictment released Monday.
A grand jury last week indicted Thomas Moyer, Apple’s chief security officer, Deputy Sheriff Rick Sung, Sheriff’s Department Captain James Jensen and insurance broker Harpreet Chadha.
The indictments were the latest developments in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s two-year investigation into an alleged scheme by sheriff officials to extort bribes for licenses. To date, six people – including Sung and a close advisor to Sheriff Laurie Smith – have been charged, according to the Mercury News.
Sung, 48, and Jensen, 43, are accused of asking for bribes for concealed weapons licenses, or CCW. Chadha, 49, and Moyer, 50, are accused of offering bribes to obtain the permits, according to a press release issued by the Santa Clara County Attorney’s Office.
“Deputy Sheriff Sung and Captain Jensen treated CCW licenses like commodities and found willing buyers,” Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Bribe seekers must be reported to the district attorney’s office, without being rewarded for compliance.”
The defendants will be brought to justice on January 11 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If they are found guilty, they could receive a prison sentence, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The press release states that Sung and Jensen made Moyer promise that Apple would donate around 200 iPads to the sheriff’s office in exchange for four concealed weapon licenses.
The donation was reportedly scuttled after August 2, 2019, when Sung and Moyer learned that the district attorney’s office had issued a warrant with the sheriff’s office, seizing all of his concealed weapons license files, the statement said.
Ed Swanson, Moyer’s lawyer, denied the allegations and said his client was innocent. In a statement, he called Moyer’s accusation “collateral damage” in a rivalry between the district attorney and Smith, the sheriff.
According to Swanson, Apple often donates devices. He said the iPads offered by the company were unrelated to the concealed weapon licenses his client was seeking on behalf of other Apple employees.
Those permits were granted in March 2019, before Apple confirmed the decision to approve the donation, Swanson said by phone.
“Apple applied for CCW lets in the right way,” Swanson said. “They didn’t bribe, they weren’t asked to bribe, and the prosecutor’s office just got it wrong.
At Sung’s request, Chadha allegedly promised $ 6,000 tickets to a San Jose Sharks hockey game at SAP Center on Valentine’s Day last year, indictment says .
The fees to acquire a concealed weapons license range from $ 200 to $ 400, according to the district attorney’s office.
Under state law, carrying a concealed firearm without a concealed weapon license is a felony.
Although state law requires the applicant to demonstrate a “good cause” for the license, in addition to completing a firearms course and having good character, the sheriff has broad discretion in determining who should be eligible, according to the district attorney’s office.
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