Corrales’ lawsuit references a 252-page investigative report compiled throughout 2024 by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. The report itself isn’t included in the lawsuit, but Corrales claims he has knowledge about what it contains, including the identities of 271 current and former employees who either admitted to or were found to potentially have tattoos associated with two deputy gangs, the “Regulators” and “Spartans.”

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“Nobody knows the number of deputies in any secret society, Spartans and Regulators included, because [the sheriff’s department] has never conducted an investigation to identify all members,” said Huntsman, who retired in 2025.

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According to the lawsuit, internal affairs investigators tried to compel Corrales to tally or show them every tattoo on his body.

He was also ordered, under the threat of discharge, to answer if he had a Spartan tattoo or one similar to it anywhere on his body, according to the lawsuit. Investigators at one point, he said, asked Corrales to lift his pant legs to prove the existence of a tattoo on his shins.

He refused, and on Nov. 6, he was discharged for “purposely and/or unnecessarily obstructed, and/or interfered with, and/or delayed an official internal investigation” and refusing to answer the investigators’ questions, according to the lawsuit.