Top OC leaders debate what to say in victim impact statement about disgraced colleague's crime

Orange County supervisors voted at a special meeting Tuesday to send a victim impact statement to the judge overseeing the federal case against disgraced former Supervisor Andrew Do.

Do is currently awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a federal bribery charge for his role in a scheme to steal millions of COVID relief dollars meant to feed needy seniors. That charge, and Do's plea, came nearly a year after LAist began investigating contracts directed by Do to a nonprofit where his younger daughter held leadership roles. He faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced in June.

During Tuesday's meeting, Supervisor Janet Nguyen said constituents are "angry and they still have not received an apology from him."

As part of their vote, the supervisors decided to amend the statement to include references to the incomplete Vietnam War memorial project, a list of crimes Do could have been charged for, as well as attaching a letter asking the federal Department of Justice to revisit the deal and consider a tougher sentence.

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Supervisor Don Wagner voted against sending the statement, while Supervisor Doug Chaffee abstained.

The purpose of sending an impact statement, officials wrote, is “to document the long-lasting and severe impacts of the defendant’s criminal misconduct.”

Because of Do’s “self-dealing behavior” to divert millions of dollars “to enrich himself,” the statement reads, the county has had to spend more than $800,000 in a civil lawsuit to try and recover the funds.

The statement calls on the court to “order restitution to the County in the full amount of this loss, now totaling over $11 million, so that these moneys can be used for their original, intended purposes.”

The statement also calls for the maximum prison sentence allowed under the law.

“When questioned about the County’s contracts with VAS, and the involvement of his daughter, Rhiannon, the defendant lied to journalists, County staff, and to his Board colleagues. Abusing the power of his elected position, the defendant attempted to intimidate and silence those who asked questions about how the County money allocated to VAS was being spent,” the statement reads.

Do called on LAist to fire reporter Nick Gerda, who at that point had written three stories over four weeks about Do and how he awarded millions to his daughter’s nonprofit, without revealing the family ties. The supervisor also went on Vietnamese language media to defend the nonprofit.

Nguyen said a previous iteration of the victim impact statement only referred to a reporter. Naming the reporter, she said, shows the judge "how corrupt the former supervisor is, how evil, how he just wants to go after people because of his political power."

 "Most people don't realize is when he sent that out, it wasn't really for the mainstream media, it was for the Vietnamese American community media to say, 'Don't you even dare report against me,'" she said. "That was the message, that I'm gonna get you fired, so it was actually targeting the ethnic community more than it is, you know, LAist."

Nguyen said Do suppressed the Vietnamese media community.

"Most of them didn't even report on it. They were so scared to death of him. If you report against him, he calls you out," she said. "He goes on the radio and TVs and he calls you out and he just comes after people."

How to watchdog 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 special meeting of the board is at noon Tuesday. You can watch the meeting here. 
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.