On November 19th, 2018, OC Sheriff’s Deputy Angelina Cortez received news about a robbery in San Clemente. A man was commiting a robbery at a 7-Eleven convenience store. No sources (so far) have confirmed the suspect’s name, but the robber was said to be in search of wine and batteries.
41-year old Angelina Cortez and her training partner were assigned to the store. Together, the duo successfully made it to 7-Eleven and apprehended the robber. Once the man had been taken in, the items he had were eventually confiscated by the Police. Each of those items were stockpiled for evidence—all except the suspect’s credit card.
According to OC Sheriff Sgt. Dennis Breckner, Cortez has been confirmed to have misfiled her report on the 7-Eleven robbery back on December 14, 2018. The credit card was not collected as evidence for the Police Force.
In September 2020, Cortez pleaded guilty to stealing the credit card. Once she had stolen it, Cortez gave the card to her son. It turns out that Cortez had managed to sneak the suspect’s credit card into her uniform shirt pocket during the arrest.
There was a later incident that led to the charge on Cortez and her being investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. According to Sheriff Breckner’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun, the incident was later provided to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Cortez has been on administrative leave since June 2019 and was awaiting a decision by the Attorney’s Office. An Orange County Superior Court Official eventually made the decision to reduce Cortez’s charge.
As of early 2021, Cortez was sentenced to 12 hours of Community Service. She also was sentenced to a year’s worth of informal probation. Officials have stated that if the charge hadn’t been reduced, the former Sheriff’s Deputy would’ve spent 3 years in jail.
