FLASHREPORT

There are questions tonight about a property deal involving the chairman of the county Board of Supervisors Bill Horn. Records obtained by News 8 show that Horn has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from his chief of staff Joan Wonsley.

Six bedrooms, five and a half baths, three garages and a swimming pool. County supervisor Bill Horn bought this home on Avenida La Cima in Carlsbad three years ago.

Today, it's valued at more than $1.3 million.

Property records show Horn owns the house as a married man, as his sole and separate property. That's because Horn's wife of 39 years, Kathleen, signed away her ownership rights in the house when it was purchased in 2003.

Even so, supervisor Horn says he doesn't live there.

Horn says Wonsley, 50, lives in the house under a private, rent-to-own agreement he signed with her.

Horn told News 8, “She's got a lease purchase option on the property. She had sold her condo and wanted to move up.”

Wonsley, a divorced mother who declared bankruptcy in 1996, is 13 years younger than her boss.

She lives in Horn's house with her 23-year-old daughter Brooke and two teenage sons.

Horn says Wonsley and her kids needed a place to live, so he provided it.

“I just happened to have something that was available that was in her price range, and she was willing to pay the price. And, she pays market rent I guarantee you,” Horn said in an interview with News 8.

Read the rest of the transcript here.