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MONDAY, JULY 28-AUGUST 03, 2025
State attorney general seeks to take control of LA County juvenile halls
VOL. 13,
NO. 234
Attorneys agree Do’s restitution should be up to $879,000 By City News Service
By Joe Taglieri joet@beaconmedianews.com
C
alifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday asked a court approve his request for the state to take control of Los Angeles County juvenile halls. The attorney general cited what he said were repeated operational failures at Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf juvenile halls, leading to his court petition to establish a receivership for the county’s problematic juvenile detention system. Bonta made the announcement during a news conference in downtown LA, where he noted ongoing issues at the county’s juvenile detention facilities such as youthon-youth violence, drug overdoses and insufficient staffing. “For the first time in my office’s history, we are asking a court to place the subject of a pattern-andpractice investigation into receivership,” Bonta said in a statement. “This drastic step to divest Los Angeles County of control over its juvenile halls is a last resort — and the only option left to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the youth currently in its care.” Bonta’s court petition filed Wednesday in LA Superior Court seeks the appointment of a receiver to oversee the operation of the juvenile halls. The attorney general accused the county of failing to comply with court judgments and orders dating back to 2021 that pertain to management of the facilities. LA County remains out of compliance with 75% of the court judgment provisions, according to the AG’s office. “For four-and-a-half years, we’ve moved aggressively to bring the county
The Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles County Probation Department
into compliance with our judgment — and we’ve been met with glacial progress that has too often looked like one step forward and two steps back,” Bonta said. “Enough is enough. These young people deserve better, and my office will not stop until they get it. A receivership is the best and only option to turn Los Angeles County juvenile halls around, and we believe the court will agree.” A receivership would turn over control of the juvenile halls to a court-appointed officer, or receiver. In a statement Wednesday, the county Probation Department acknowledged the problems at the juvenile halls, but officials were “deeply concerned” with alleged “misleading information” in the attorney general’s court filing. “The department fully acknowledges many of the issues raised by Attorney General Bonta regarding juvenile halls in our county,” Probation Department
officials said. “However, we are deeply concerned with some of the misleading information expressed in the attorney general’s filing. We are further concerned with his request seeking expansive authority through an expedited court process — despite its far-reaching implications and intent. “Further, Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa has taken aggressive and direct steps to address several of the deficiencies that have plagued the Probation department for decades, particularly around the juvenile halls,” the statement continued. “Since his appointment, the chief has worked to stabilize staffing, improve safety protocols including to curb the introduction of dangerous contraband into facilities, increase accountability for staff misconduct, bring fidelity to our internal investigative processes, expand access to medical and mental health services, and realign the juvenile
system — all of this despite long-standing bureaucratic and regulatory roadblocks. “Our hope is that a receivership structure, should it be approved, be used as a collaborative tool to help remove obstacles—not as an isolating mechanism that sidelines the people and systems committed to improvements and reform,” probation officials said. LA County supervisors voiced support for the receivership. “We have spent years trying to improve conditions, exhausted every tool at the County level, and still, we are failing these young people,” Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose District 4 includes Los Padrinos, said in a statement. “I stand ready to do everything I can to help receivership succeed and I urge our county leadership, our chief probation officer, and our county lawyers to stay at the table to shape a process that helps See Juvenile halls Page 02
Ex-OC Supervisor Andrew Do. | Photo courtesy of Supervisor Andrew Do/Facebook
F
ederal prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed in court papers filed last week that former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do should have to pay between $800,000 to just over $878,000 in restitution for his bribery scheme. Do, who was sentenced to five years in federal prison last month and is expected to begin serving his term in midAugust, will face a restitution hearing Aug. 11 before U.S. District Judge James Selna, who will determine how much the defendant owes the government. Federal prosecutors argued that Do should repay $868,612 for the money he and his family took in the scheme, plus $9,618.80 in legal fees for the county, for a total of $878,230.80. Do’s attorneys argue their client should repay at most $802,692, receiving credit for some of the work Do’s daughter, Rhiannon, did for the Viet America Society, the See Andrew Do Page 24
recipient of the bribes. “In this case, defendant used his position as supervisor for the county of Orange to steer millions of dollars in contracts to his co- conspirators, in exchange for more than a half million dollars in bribes,” prosecutors said in a brief. “From 2021 to 2023, defendant steered and voted in favor of more than $10 million worth of county contracts and grants to his co-conspirator’s organizations, including Viet America Society, a nonprofit that was supposed to provide meal services to the elderly and disabled, among other services.” Rhiannon Do will benefit from a diversion program as part of her father’s plea deal. She was paid $8,000 monthly between September 2021 and February 2024, for a total of $224,000, prosecutors said. In July 2023, $381,500 from the society was put in escrow so Rhiannon Do could