Westminster Councilwoman Amy Phan West charged with bribing a parking officer
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In the past, controversial Westminster City Councilwoman Amy Phan West called for a letter asking the Orange County district attorney’s office to investigate her former council colleague for alleged corruption.
But on Jan. 23, Phan West found herself facing a misdemeanor charge from the D.A. after allegedly bribing a Westminster Police Department parking officer out of towing her husband’s Jeep.
In April 2023, two parking officers arrived to the corner Dorothy Street and Melanie Lane in Westminster to check on an abandoned Jeep parked on the street.
According to a D.A. news release, the location is where Phan West is alleged to have been running a car rental business through the Turo app.
Westminster council members Amy Phan West and NamQuan Nguyen have been named in a lawsuit that alleges they have consistently disrupted meetings and impeded the conduct of city business. Phan West called the suit a political stunt.
It’s also where Westminster parking officers had responded to more than 20 calls for service about dirty, unregistered and abandoned vehicles that year, according to the news release.
The parking officers requested a tow truck to haul away the Jeep, which was found to have been registered to Phan West’s husband.
D.A. prosecutors allege that Phan West identified herself as a councilwoman to the parking officers and told them not to tow the Jeep as she would move it herself.
She also stands accused of telling the parking officers that she loved the Westminster Police Department, knew the police chief and was working on getting police department staff a raise.
Phan West also allegedly showed the parking officers her Westminster Police Department keychain.
Westminster negotiated a contract with the Westminster Police Officers Assn. at the time she allegedly made her statements.
The parking officers called off the tow truck and left the Jeep parked on the street.
According to D.A. spokeswoman Kimberly Edds, Phan West is being charged in relation to bribing one parking officer.
She is not accused of offering money to either officer during the encounter.
A majority of Westminster council members voted to censure Councilwoman Amy Phan West during a meeting marked by constant interruptions and muted microphones.
Phan West, who was not immediately available for comment, is set to be arraigned on Feb. 24 at the Stephen K. Tamura Justice Center in Westminster. She faces up to 364 days in jail if convicted.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Bradbury is prosecuting the case.
“The law applies equally to everyone, including elected officials,” O.C. Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer stated in the news release. “Holding elective office does not entitle anyone to a separate set of rules and any attempt to engage in corruption, bribery, or any other crime under the shroud of elective office will be thoroughly investigated and any and all crimes that have been committed will be prosecuted by my office to the fullest extent of the law.”
Phan West is also named in a civil suit filed by Westminster alleging that she and her council colleague NamQuan Nguyen have disrupted City Council meetings in a manner amounting to a misdemeanor violation of city and state law.
The city is seeking a court order that would require Phan West and Nguyen to abide by the council’s decorum rules in not speaking out of turn.
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