A superior court judge said Friday he was disturbed that it took three years for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to follow his order to turn over secret records related to the use of informants in county jails.

County prosecutors, reacting to suspicions that a new set of secret records has been started in the jails, told Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals on Friday that they have asked the Sheriff’s Department to turn over everything – including any new records – it may have.

In 2013, Goethals ordered deputies and prosecutors to turn over all records about jailhouse informants to the public defender representing admitted mass murderer Scott Dekraai. At the time, it was unclear how extensive those records were.

On Friday, Goethals expressed frustration that the records only recently “washed ashore” and noted that the 1,157 pages of computerized logs kept by sheriff’s deputies ended exactly six days after he ordered that evidence be turned over to the defense.

Goethals also said he was unhappy that the content of those records appears to contradict sworn testimony from sheriff’s deputies working on the case. The records cover a period from September 2008 to January 2013 and include information about informants working on potentially dozens of cases other than Dekraai’s.

Some deputies had told the court, under oath, that they don’t actively work to cultivate informants in the jails.

But Goethals said the documents show that some deputies worked extensively with jailhouse informants, moving them as needed for “capers” with “goofball” names like “Operation Okie-Dokie.” The logs show that informants also were rewarded.

“It makes you smile, but it also makes you shake your head,” Goethals said.

Goethals is presiding over the penalty trial of Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to killing eight people at a Seal Beach salon in 2011. In 2015, Goethals removed the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from the case out of concern the agency could not guarantee a fair trial. The case was handed to the state Attorney General’s Office, which is appealing.

Meanwhile, Goethals has been asked to determine how much of the logs, sealed by the court as confidential, can be turned over to Dekraai’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders. Some excerpts of the records have been turned over to Sanders as part of the case against Daniel Wozniak, a Costa Mesa community theater actor who killed two people in 2010 to steal money.

Lawyers for the county on Friday indicated that Sheriff Sandra Hutchens wants all of the documents kept under court protection. The logs are said to contain names of various informants, whose lives could be threatened if the information is released publicly. Goethals gave other police agencies until Sept. 19 to turn in requests to keep confidential other parts of the logs.

He also set the next hearing date for Sept. 22.

Sanders asked the judge to be as forthcoming as possible with the logs, noting what he described as “three years of deception” by prosecutors and police.

“Will favorable evidence ever make its way out of the jail?” Sanders asked in exasperation.

Contact the writer: tsaavedra@scng.com