SANTA ANA—A veteran Orange County sheriff’s employee is on administrative leave and the subject of an internal investigation for her part in attending the rally that led to the Capitol breach on Jan. 6.
Monica Alston, a sheriff’s special officer, has been with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department since 1999, but was on personal leave at the time she was apparently in Washington, D.C., for the rally for former President Donald Trump, Braun said.
Some of the president’s followers later broke into the Capitol.
Sheriff’s special officers are sworn officers who have the same authority as deputies while on-duty, but not while off duty, Braun said.
Social media posts from Alston on the day of the insurrection prompted an internal investigation and she was placed on administrative leave Jan. 21, Braun said.
The FBI served a search warrant on her apartment in Irvine on Feb. 3, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. No charges have yet been filed, Eimiller said.
