The Brief

The Viet America Society, a nonprofit with ties to O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his 22-year-old daughter, will have two more weeks to show what it did with millions of taxpayer dollars, Supervisor Katrina Foley confirmed to LAist.

Sterling Scott Winchell, an attorney now representing the nonprofit, said in an interview published Thursday with The Orange County Register that Viet America Society will be able to prove how it spent $4 million earmarked for meals during the pandemic.

The county has been seeking transaction records for more than a year, according to warning letters from the county’s OC Community Resource department. A pair of deadlines, on March 14 and March 18, came and went earlier this month without the nonprofit providing transaction records and other details as required by the county, according to county spokespeople.

Supervisor Foley said she wants to see proof of where the money went, and that any normal operation should have a bookkeeping program with receipts and invoices.

“I just don’t know why that’s so hard,” she said.

Supervisor Do and the three other supervisors didn’t immediately return LAist’s messages for comment.

On Thursday, the nonprofit’s Huntington Beach office had a sign on its door from the building owner saying the suite was available for lease.

The Viet America Society's Huntington Beach office with a sign on its door saying the suite was available for lease on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

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Nick Gerda

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LAist

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Attorney says Rhiannon Do is no longer involved in nonprofit

Winchell told the Register that Supervisor Do’s daughter Rhiannon Do is no longer involved with the organization. “She has a real life ahead of her,” he said. “So she just basically left the place.”

He also claimed that Rhiannon Do was never in a leadership position, despite her being listed as the group’s president or executive director on state and county records since at least February 2022.

Rhiannon Do also was marked as the group’s only director and only officer on its most recent public tax filing, covering calendar year 2022.

Winchell did not respond to LAist’s request for comment.

He told the Register he couldn’t explain why she signed documents as an officer.

“She must not have been looking at it,” he said in the interview. “She never was president. She never was vice president. She never was an officer, director, managing agent.”

Winchell also told the Register that the tax filings have been refiled without her name.

Rhiannon Do also signed a subcontract as the nonprofit’s president in June 2023, according to public records obtained by LAist. She listed herself as president of Warner Wellness, the DBA for Viet America, from July 2021 on LinkedIn. [A DBA is a name an organization uses to operate that’s different from its legal name.] Her page has since been removed from public view.

As LAist reported in November:

As recently as October, Rhiannon Do is listed as one of the people "confirmed as officers" for the organization in a document turned over by OC County as part of a public records request.

What’s next

Winchell said the nonprofit now is looking to do a required audit, which is nearly two years overdue and is required under the nonprofit's county contract and federal law.

Viet America Society has been the subject of a months-long LAist investigation that has uncovered more than $13 million in taxpayer funds that Supervisor Do directed, or helped direct, to his daughter’s group without publicly disclosing his family connection.

Under state law, officials are not required to disclose or recuse themselves when their votes would financially benefit their adult children. The law does require those disclosures for minor children and spouses. An effort earlier this year by some O.C. supervisors to change ethics requirements in the county failed to advance.

How to watchdog your local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The next scheduled board meeting is April 9. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
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LAist reporter Ted Rohrlich contributed to this report.

It’s taken over a decade and $1.3 billion, but Hollywood Burbank’s new terminal is finally ready for action. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the first passengers will be taking off and arriving at the brand-new structure.

Visitors note: The new terminal entrance has moved from Thornton Avenue to the intersection of Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way. There’s also a central security checkpoint and an indoor baggage claim.

The project stemmed from Burbank’s Measure B, passed in 2016.

LAist reporter Cato Hernandez got a sneak peek inside the building last week and reported on the scope and the thinking behind the decor.

William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.

The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.

Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.

The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied the game with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.

That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit.

The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.

After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.

Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.

Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.

Neither starter lasts long

The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.

In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.

This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.

Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.

Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.

Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.

Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.

After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.

Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out, and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.

Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.

Up next

Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Gasser allowed one run over five innings when the Brewers won 3-1 at San Diego to clinch their NL Division Series.

The Dodgers hadn’t announced their Game 3 starting pitcher.

Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on “Breaking Bad,” died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.

Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.

Diagnosed at age 3, Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills — all key subjects on the show — made him better at his job.“You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,” he said. “You’re able to use that. And I think it’s an asset instead of something that would hinder.”

Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006. Like his character, he was in his mid-teens when he began his work on “Breaking Bad,” starting in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.

“Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” the actor’s representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.”

His later credits included the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth” and the superhero satire series “Guardians of Justice.”

He was also a producer of several independent films.

As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.