On Thursday, federal authorities raided homes in Orange County that the agency said were illegally purchased with public funds intended for pandemic relief programs, including meals for seniors.
The police operation continued into Thursday afternoon at several locations, including Candeda Place in Tustin. Agents were seen leaving the home with boxes and what appeared to be laptops.
The homes were purchased by a nonprofit group called the Viet America Society, which is at the center of the federal investigation.
According to a civil lawsuit filed by the county last week, Rhiannon Do, the daughter of County Executive Andrew Do, bought the Tustin townhouse last year. Rhiannon Do was vice president of the Viet America Society, which used federal pandemic relief funds to buy homes, according to the lawsuit. The money was to be used for food delivery to seniors and the disabled during the pandemic.
The searches also targeted the Garden Grove home of Vietnam America Society President Peter Pham, the Orange County Register reported. NewsChopper4 was on site Thursday during the police operation.
The FBI confirmed that in addition to the homes in Tustin and Garden Grove, a home in Fountain Valley was also searched.
In a statement to City News Service, Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, confirmed that the searches were conducted by agents but declined to provide details.
“We are executing a search warrant, but due to the court’s confidentiality order, we do not wish to comment on the nature of the investigation,” McEvoy said.
Mark Rosen, an attorney for VAS, told the Register that agents also raided a Westminster restaurant. VAS had contracted with the restaurant during the pandemic to prepare meals that the organization was allowed to deliver to residents in need at the county’s expense.
The district’s lawsuit seeks to recover millions of dollars, accusing the Viet America Society of “brazenly” using the funds for personal gain.
Rosen issued a statement last week calling the lawsuit a “disgrace” that was riddled with “many, many factual errors.” Rosen added that the Viet America Society “continues to provide food and supplies to the poor and disabled today. You are all invited to come and see this in action. And they keep excellent records today.”
Rosen said the nonprofit provided the services promised in the COVID grant but initially failed to keep proper records.
“All contracts were followed in providing the services,” Rosen said. “This lawsuit is a smear campaign.”
Rosen said before the lawsuit was filed, the nonprofit had difficulty documenting every meal delivered during the pandemic.
“They’re now trying to get data from people who don’t want anything to do with the government, who are suspicious of the government because they’re refugees themselves,” Rosen said of the Vietnamese community the nonprofit serves. “Three years after the incident, the country now has impossible standards, as if there was no pandemic or no one was sick. In hindsight, it’s easy to question all that, but people forget what it was like back then, before we had the vaccines.”
NBCLA has contacted Supervisor Do for comment.
City News Service contributed to this report.
