Calls between son of ex-’Real Housewives’ star and his attorney were among dozens recorded and listened to by law enforcement

Two jailhouse phone calls between Joshua Waring, son of former “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member Lauri Peterson, and his defense attorney at the time are among dozens of communications between Orange County Jail inmates and their lawyers that were improperly recorded and listened to by law enforcement.

A list of the recorded calls — obtained by the Daily Pilot on Friday — show that Waring dialed a number associated with the Orange County alternate defender’s office twice at 12:33 p.m. Oct. 18, 2016.

A county Sheriff’s Department employee downloaded a recording of the calls made to Waring’s attorney, Ray Chen, to a disk on Jan. 25, 2017, the document shows.

The disk was provided to Costa Mesa police officials who were investigating allegations of attempted murder against Waring in connection with a 2016 shooting, said Waring’s current defense attorney, Joel Garson.

It isn’t clear whether the calls to Chen were answered, and if so, what was discussed.

Waring, 29, is facing three counts of attempted murder and other felony and misdemeanor charges in the Costa Mesa shooting. He could face multiple life sentences if convicted.

Garson is trying to have the case dismissed on grounds of outrageous governmental conduct.

“If he’s talking strategy to Ray Chen and that’s on the tape, I’d be very surprised if the district attorney doesn’t concede the case,” Garson said. “If I can show it was direct attorney-client privilege, then it’s a home run.”

Garson said the two recorded phone calls did not appear on several disks the Police Department gave him during evidence sharing. Other disks that were provided contained recordings of Waring speaking with family members and friends.

Costa Mesa police officials did not respond to a call seeking comment Friday.

The revelations about Waring’s jail communications come on the heels of news that the Sheriff’s Department improperly recorded 1,079 phone calls between inmates and their attorneys over a three-year period, in violation of state law.

That information came to light Monday when Greg Boston, director of inmate services for the county, testified about it in a court hearing in Waring’s case. Garson has been digging into allegations that law enforcement monitored and shared Waring’s jailhouse phone calls while he was representing himself in his criminal case.

An employee with Global Tel Link Corp., a contractor that oversees the jail phone system, wrote in a July 27 letter to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens that an update in the company’s system in January 2015 caused “a technical error” that led to the calls being recorded.

“After conducting research, we have determined that the Sheriff’s Department staff, and in certain circumstances [Global Tel Link] for investigative or technical purposes, accessed 58 of those 1,079 recorded calls a total of 87 times,” Darren Wallace, executive vice president of operations for Global Tel Link, wrote in the letter.

The company corrected the error in July and no longer is recording attorney-client phone calls, Global Tel Link and Sheriff’s Department officials said.

Garson said the Global Tel Link breach could cause convictions or charges to be dismissed in dozens of serious criminal cases.

“It’s been going on for three years,” he said. “Someone along the line in law enforcement should have realized and thought, ‘Why did we get this on tape?’ and notified the Sheriff’s Department that something was wrong with their phone system. It’s hard to believe that nobody knew.”

Hutchens said in a statement Thursday that she is “deeply disappointed that this technical glitch by [Global Tel Link] occurred” and is “concerned about the serious consequences it may bring.”

“Although each call was prefaced with a warning that calls were ‘subject to monitoring and recording,’ we know that these calls never should have been recorded by [Global Tel Link],” Hutchens wrote, adding that Sheriff’s Department staff directed the company to fix the issue when it was discovered in June.

[email protected]

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN