Judge 'underwhelmed' by sheriff's search for evidence in O.C. snitch scandal

The Orange County Sheriff's Department insists it has been working hard to comply with a judge's long-standing orders to divulge records concerning its handling of jailhouse informants. On Tuesday, however, a 24-year veteran of the department testified that he did not know whether anyone in the department had gone through 68 banker's boxes worth of files -- including informant-related material -- dating from the 1980s. Lt. Andrew Stephens testified that he took possession of the boxes -- each containing 100 files -- in late 2016, when he took over the jail's Custody Intelligence Unit, which handles informants. "I am underwhelmed at this moment by the diligence of the search, based on what this witness said," Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals said after Stephens' testimony. The Sheriff's Department's repeated failure to turn over informant-related evidence to the defense team of mass murderer Scott Dekraai is central to hearings underway this week before Goethals.