Haidl ordered to pay $40,000

Former Orange County Assistant Sheriff and Newport Beach millionaire Don Haidl was sentenced in federal court Monday to 200 hours of community service, two years’ probation and ordered to pay $40,000 in fines for filing a false tax return in 2002.

Haidl, who helped federal authorities take down former Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona last year, pleaded guilty in 2007. While Federal Judge Andrew J. Guilford said filing a false return is a “serious offense,” he took into account prosecutors’ contention that they would not have been able to prosecute Carona without Haidl.

In three separate instances, Haidl secretly recorded conversations with the former sheriff and helped lead to his and ex-Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo’s convictions.

Guilford rebuked a recommended sentence in January that Haidl only pay fines and get probation.

“There’s something to be said for white-collar defendants understanding the plights and ills of our society,” Guilford said. “I don’t want this to be an easy way out.”

Details of what Haidl’s community service will be were not detailed at Monday’s hearing, said his attorney, Mark Byrne.

At the January hearing, Byrne echoed federal prosecutors’ stance that Haidl’s cooperation with authorities was key evidence in their case against the corrupt sheriff.

If Haidl received a jail sentence, it would discourage future witnesses from cooperating with authorities, U.S. Atty. Brett Sagel said at the January hearing.