The Brief

Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison, after an LAist investigation and federal probe led him to resign and plead guilty to a conspiracy to steal millions of taxpayer dollars meant to feed needy seniors.

The penalty was issued by James V. Selna, a U.S. District Court judge, in front of a packed Santa Ana courtroom as Do sat and watched with his attorneys. It was the maximum penalty possible under the federal bribery charge Do pleaded guilty to.

Do is ordered to report to Lompoc, a low-security federal prison in Santa Barbara County, by Aug. 15.

Selna said Do's breach of his duty is a "real crime" as he handed down the sentence.

“Public corruption wreaks damage far beyond the loss to the county. It undermines the public’s trust of the government. It undermines the government’s ability to function," he said.

At Monday’s hearing, Do’s attorneys asked for a four-year sentence, pointing to the recommendation of federal probation officials. But Selna said anything less than the five-year maximum would fail to reflect the gravity of Do’s crime.

“I just do not believe that any sentence less than the maximum reflects the seriousness of the crime,” Selna said.

Selna ordered a hearing on Aug. 11 to determine the amount of restitution owed to taxpayers. He said Do and his daughter Rhiannon Do, who was involved in the scheme, would be "jointly liable" for paying the money back.

Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do at an Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on Nov. 28, 2023.

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Nick Gerda / LAist

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Andrew Do declined to speak when the judge asked if he had anything to add about the sentencing and did not respond to questions from an LAist reporter as he exited the courtroom. Paul Meyer, his attorney, said via text message that given the upcoming hearing, no response is appropriate at this time.

Andrew Do's plea agreement says that he gave up his right to appeal the sentence.

It’s the first time in decades that an O.C. supervisor has been convicted of corruption, according to prosecutors.

After an LAist investigation exposed millions in unaccounted-for coronavirus relief funds Andrew Do quietly routed to a newly-created nonprofit connected to his youngest daughter, federal law enforcement launched a probe.

Facing the prospect of being prosecuted on multiple felonies, Andrew Do ultimately admitted that of $9.3 million in COVID relief money he directed to the Huntington Beach nonprofit, only 15% actually went to feed seniors and people with disabilities as earmarked. The other roughly $8 million was diverted, Do admitted.

Andrew Do also admitted to accepting over $550,000 in bribes for directing and voting in favor of more than $10 million in COVID funds to the nonprofit, Viet America Society. Many of the bribes were routed through roughly $400,000 in down payment money that Rhiannon Do, the younger of his two daughters, used to buy a house in Tustin, according to facts he ultimately admitted to as part of his plea deal.

Law enforcement searched the Tustin home of Rhiannon Do, on Aug. 22, 2024.

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Jason Armond

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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When then-U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the plea deal last October, he said, “Mr. Do and his co-conspirators stole money from the poor.” Estrada called the conspiracy “Robin Hood in reverse.”

Andrew Do pleaded guilty last fall to a single federal charge of bribery, in a deal that spared his younger daughter from prosecution. As part of the deal, Rhiannon Do admitted to committing one federal and three state crimes in connection with the home purchase, including perjury and mortgage fraud. She was a law student at UC Irvine at the time. The plea deal required her to keep attending law school — she graduated last month — and to study for the bar exam to become an attorney or find a job.

Andrew Do’s wife and the mother of his two daughters is Cheri Pham, an Orange County Superior Court judge. She was the supervising judge overseeing the criminal courts when her husband started directing meal money to the nonprofit. Later, she was promoted to the second-highest-ranking judgeship at the court, a position she held from the beginning of 2023 until the end of last year when she was reassigned to family court. She has not been publicly accused of wrongdoing.

O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do (center left) in December 2023 with his daughter Rhiannon Do (right) and wife Cheri Pham (between them).

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Screenshot of a public video posted by Do’s official YouTube channel

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Response to the sentencing

In a statement, O.C. Supervisor Katrina Foley commended the U.S. Department of Justice for holding Do "fully accountable."

“No one is above the law. This maximum sentencing of Andrew Do sends a strong message that we do not tolerate public corruption in Orange County,” Foley said. “Andrew Do enriched himself off the suffering of others, betraying our residents and violating his oath of office.”

O.C. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento told LAist he would have preferred a longer sentence.

Sarmiento added that the county is working to conduct a third-party audit of all contracts that came from Andrew Do’s office and any county deals made during the pandemic when oversight was lax. He added that the county has work to do to restore the public's confidence in government.

“I do think that it's going to take a very long time to re-establish the public's trust in the county,” Sarmiento said. “It takes a long time to build, but it's very easily eroded and damaged.”

O.C. Supervisor Doug Chaffee told LAist he also wished Do's sentence had been longer. Chaffee and Sarmiento applauded the recent federal indictments of Do’s conspirators, Peter Pham, of Viet America Society, and Thanh Huong Nguyen, of Hand to Hand Relief.

"Maybe we can finally come to a conclusion in a just way that will play itself out over time,” Chaffee said of the indictments.

Any stolen funds recovered by the county, Chaffee said, should go toward the residents previously represented by Andrew Do. Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who now represents the First Supervisorial District where Andrew Do used to serve, told LAist she also supports the idea of directing recovered COVID-relief funds to district residents. The district is in the northwestern region of the county and includes Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Westminster.

“The victims are the First District,” Nguyen said. “These individuals that I represent, the residents of the First District, are the ones who didn't get the benefits or the help from the county that they deserved.”

Accountability doesn’t end now with Andrew Do’s sentencing, Nguyen added, saying she hopes federal prosecutors will continue to "go after every individual and not let this go."

"We will hold everybody accountable,” she said.

A spokesperson for Supervisor Don Wagner said he was not available for comment.

Thai Viet Phan, a member of the Santa Ana City Council, said she thought Andrew Do’s crimes went well beyond bribery. “He literally stole money from poor people,” she said, referring to the meals for needy seniors that the contracts Andrew Do received kickbacks from were supposed to provide. “It’s just so cruel.”

Westminster resident Terry Rains showed up at the courthouse in Santa Ana to see the sentencing in person.

“I’m glad that we got the max allowed for this charge,” Rains said. "This is what journalism is all about … unrooting the corruption and then seeing the consequences of that.”

How much prison time did he and prosecutors ask for? 

Prosecutors asked Selna to impose the maximum sentence of five years, saying Andrew Do’s crimes were “an assault on the very legitimacy of government” and left vulnerable people with “empty stomachs and worsened health conditions.”

In calling for the maximum sentence, prosecutors also pointed to Andrew Do’s public attacks on LAist’s integrity — including a news release he issued in December 2023 falsely accusing an LAist reporter of forging documents and calling for the reporter to be fired.

“It was a calculated attempt to discredit those who sought to hold him accountable and to chill further investigation. Rather than confronting the truth, the defendant sought to delegitimize it,” prosecutors wrote.

“His actions sent a clear message: that the real threat, in his view, was not corruption or the misuse of public funds, but the exposure of those facts to the public.”

Ahead of Monday's hearing, Andrew Do asked the judge for a 33-month sentence — about half of what prosecutors called for. In a court filing, his attorney wrote that Andrew Do was “willfully blinded to the violations” and placed part of the blame on his fellow supervisors. He wrote that the money directed to Viet America Society was a decision made by all the members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, not him alone.

An office suite in Huntington Beach for the nonprofit Viet America Society, shown in April 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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County records show otherwise. Several million of the meal dollars were directed to the nonprofit at Andrew Do’s sole discretion, without the other supervisors ever voting on choosing that organization.

In calling for the lesser sentence, Andrew Do’s lawyers also wrote Andrew Do did not directly receive payments. And they wrote he has been volunteering with a youth program teaching youngsters how to foster confidence by learning how to sail.

Andrew Do’s lawyers wrote that he’s been spending 20 hours per week volunteering with the sailing program. A captain there told LAist Andrew Do has come in a few times per month.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.