Even In Death, Ex-OC Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl Can't Help But Generate Hillbilly Antics

DonHaidlprobate.jpg
$$$: Assistant Sheriff Haidl: Somehow, California's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) agency let a used-car salesman have full police powers without a minute of required POST training
During his life, Don Haidl--the booze-loving, foul-mouthed, piano-playing, Rancho Cucamonga auto-auction king with underworld ties and a hatred for journalists--dreamed of playing cop, so he secretly paid more than $100,000 to Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, grabbed an assistant sheriff's badge, gun, patrol car, full police powers and, for occasions when he craved public adulation, a fancy uniform with high-ranking, lapel stars.

When he testified in Carona's 2008 federal corruption trial and helped to put his pal in prison for 66 months to save himself from incarceration, the ultra-wealthy Haidl admitted he'd partly wanted the badge to impress his associates, enhance his stance in business negotiations and, if necessary, escape DUI charges after one of his nights out at swank bars.

He also recalled delight from blasting the siren on his Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) car to alert his neighbors to his status and to awe his youngest son, Greg, who would go on to secure infamy in the international-headlines-grabbing Haidl Gang Rape case, in which an unconscious, 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted with a Snapple bottle, pool cue, apple juice can and a lit cigarette.

It shouldn't be surprising then that the scrappy Haidl--who passed away in December 2012 at the age of 61 (he looked 81)--could still generate scandal in death.

It also isn't shocking that Haidl's festering legacy would involve hillbilly antics, allegations of financial shenanigans and cash.

Peggy Haidl--the deceased's sister, executor of his massive, Newport Coast estate and the person who admitted under oath she delivered envelopes stuffed with $100 bills from her brother to Carona and then-Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo--is suing her brother Dean Haidl in Orange County Superior Court for fraud.

According to the lawsuit, Dean secured a $100,000 loan from Peggy in April 2013, under the pretense he would within weeks sell one of his homes in Rialto and one of his boats to repay the funds, but after making just $13,350 in payments, he transferred his personal property to his children and has been avoiding the debt.

Peggy, who claims she had been trying to aid her brother in keeping his auto-dealer license despite bad credit--wants her $86,650 back (plus interest and punitive damages), and if Dean doesn't fork it over, her Encino-based lawyer has threatened to memorialize family facts that will be "less enjoyable reading" than his earlier demand letters, according to court records.

She asserts in the court filing that Dean created "nothing more than sham, shells and fictitious organizations"--Superior Auto Brokers, Haidl & Haidl Investments LLC., Sunset Real Estate Investments LLC.--"for the purpose of facilitating the avoidance of creditors."

In other court records, Peggy claims that in the wake of Don's death, Dean took a 2012 Mercedes-Benz S550, valued at $76,000, from the deceased's ocean-view, $5.125 million Newport Coast house, and refuses to return it to the estate.

Though Don Haidl owned 100 percent of Hearthstone Properties LLC. and Hearthstone Benicia LLC., entities allegedly valued at nearly $4 million, at the time of his death, he owed the California Franchise Tax Board $663,000 in back taxes as well as unpaid legal and accounting bills totaling nearly $2 million.

Superior Court Judge Sheila Fell is presiding in the Peggy vs. Dean show.

Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!

Email: rscottmoxley@ocweekly.com. Twitter: @RScottMoxley.


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10 comments
Kelly Hughes Davis
Kelly Hughes Davis

Let the OC Register publish the story... Dumbasses writing about bigger dumbasses.

Mary Spadoni
Mary Spadoni

Surprising. no..idiots one and all..Corona where he belongs, rapist where he belongs and Heidel himself a short and avarice life style..karma

ltpar
ltpar topcommenter

Just another wantabee Cop who bought and bribed his way to the job.  Let's not confuse guys like Haidl and George Jaramarillo as being real Cops, because they wern't.  I met with Mike Corona for breakfast right after he was elected and warned him about hiring guys like Jarmarillo, but he didn't listen.  Guess it could have been worse, he could have offered me a job and I might have gotten caught up in all the bad crap that went on.  The Orange County Sheriffs Department is a good professional organization and people should not broad brush the entire group for the corrupt actions of a few.  

Lajimmy
Lajimmy

All class weekly............digging up shit on the dead during the Christmas season.............NICE!

fishwithoutbicycle
fishwithoutbicycle topcommenter

Just the fact that he tried to shield his scumbag son who was caught on video raping and sodomizing an unconscious girl is unforgivable. Good riddance.

rscottmoxley
rscottmoxley topcommenter

@Lajimmy Funny! You are the third to last person I'd have guessed would try to impose a "Christmas season" break from news . . . NICE!  PS--What specific days between now and Memorial Day 2015 suit your news publishing sensibilities? I need to mark my calendar.

jwrb.jb
jwrb.jb

Thanks to all of you who supported Mike Carona instead of the honorable Bill Hunt, who would still be in office and made our department the finest and proudest in the country. THANKS ALOT....

ltpar
ltpar topcommenter

@rscottmoxley @Lajimmy Come on Scott, let's give Larry Agran a Christmas present and keep the heat on to investigate him further.  How about round two in the housekeeper cover up where you interview the Police Chief one on one and the Officers involved in the case to see who in the City authorized the cover up of a felony criminal case.  Then as a little gift to the illustrious District Attorney you might ask him why his Special Investigation Unit didn't follow up on the cover up when presented with the information?   You could play the role of Santa who is making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who's been naughty and who's been nice?  

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