The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Tuesday to pay $595,000 to a former county jail inmate with celebrity connections.
The inmate, Joshua Waring, son of a former "Real Housewives of Orange County" cast member Lauri Peterson, filed a federal lawsuit against the county in April of last year alleging that sheriff’s deputies illegally monitored his jailhouse phone calls with legal representation.
Waring also alleged deputies orchestrated attacks against him by fellow inmates.
Though the settlement amount was approved by O.C. supervisors, Waring’s acceptance of the deal was still pending as of Wednesday morning.
Complicating matters was Waring’s legal status as a fugitive. Earlier this month, an O.C. Superior Court judge issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear in connection with two new drug cases.
Waring was allegedly arrested on two occasions in 2020 and 2021 for possession of illegal drugs and paraphernalia. He also faced a charge of misidentifying himself to law enforcement.
Waring spent four years behind bars after he was accused of shooting a 35-year-old man outside a Costa Mesa sober-living facility in June 2016. The victim survived, but Waring faced a potential life sentence for the crime.
He accepted a plea bargain on lesser charges in March of last year, permitting his release on time served.
While Waring was serving time for the shooting, his attorney reportedly learned that the detention facility’s telecommunications vendor had secretly recorded nearly 34,000 attorney-client calls, which are considered privileged and confidential.
In his suit against the county, Waring alleged that he was retaliated against by sheriff’s deputies for inquiring into why his calls were being recorded. He said deputies either actively set him up to be attacked by other inmates, or intentionally refrained from intervening when was attacked.
Surveillance video obtained from inside the jail appeared to show one such incident.
Waring’s case is the latest controversy to hit GTL, formerly Global Tel*Link, the Virginia-based company accused of recording O.C. inmates’ calls with attorneys.
The prison telecom giant has faced significant criticism for charging inmates disproportionately high fees to make calls to loved ones and legal representation and has come under fire for proposing facilities substitute in-person visitation in favor of more cost-effective virtual, remote options.