SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KRON) – Officials announced on Friday that a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s captain, a guns manufacturer, and two local lawyers have been indicted by a grand jury on felony bribery and conspiracy charges.
Captain James Jensen, attorney Christopher Schumb, attorney Harpaul Nahal, and business owner Michael Nichols are accused of conspiring with the CEO and a middle manager of AS Solution, Inc., an international security company, to offer a $90,000 bribe to obtain concealed firearms permits (CCW licenses) for the company’s executive protection agents.
According to officials, it all tok place in 2018, while Sheriff Laurie Smith was in a race for re-election both in the primary and general elections.
The defendants will be arraigned on Aug. 31, 2020 and if convicted could get prison time.
In a press release, officials said the DA’s investigation was sparked by an inquiry from the Metro Silicon Valley weekly about executive security licensing and “an extremely large campaign donation.”
In addition to bribery, the indictment charges Jensen with conspiring with AS Solution employees to put false information in their CCW license applications. Jensen advised Nielsen to instruct AS Solution employees who were not residents of Santa Clara County to use local corporate addresses as their residence addresses in their applications, officials said.
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