Southern California county official pleads guilty to bribery in COVID fund scheme

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A top official in Southern California’s Orange County has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a far-reaching a scheme that misused COVID-19 relief funds that were supposed to be used to feed the elderly.

Andrew Doe, the county executive who recently resigned, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., under a deal with federal prosecutors.

Do, 61, apologized to his family and those who depended on him in a statement he read in court.

“I deeply regret my actions,” he said.

Authorities said Do took more than half a million dollars in bribes while helping to secure the transfer of federal funds for COVID-19 relief to an organization that claimed to feed the elderly and disabled. The group, the Viet America Society, where Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, was listed as an officer, did not spend most of the money it received from the meals on providing them, authorities said, adding that some of the money was spent on real estate. .

The case was the result of a long investigation against the Vietnam American Society, and Orange County, home to more than 3 million people between Los Angeles and San Diego, filed a civil suit alleging the group misused federal funds.

Federal officials said only 15 percent of the more than $9 million directed to the group went to food. Authorities said the group also received $1 million for a local Vietnam War memorial that has yet to be completed.

During the investigation, the law enforcement officers seized more than 2 million dollars. Officials declined to immediately say how the rest of the money the group received was used.

“This investigation is ongoing,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters after Thursday’s court hearing. Spitzer said authorities have pledged to return assets obtained in connection with the scheme and to return any misused funds to the federal government.

Andrew Do came to the country as a Vietnamese refugee and grew up in Orange County before attending college and law school. He later became a prosecutor and a city councilman, and later won a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, a five-person board representing a cluster of communities, including surf-friendly Huntington Beach. His sentence should be announced on March 31.

Authorities said Rhiannon Doe is cooperating with the investigation under a plea deal with prosecutors and no charges will be filed.