OC Councilwoman Charged With Bribing Public Officer: OCDA

WESTMINSTER, CA — A Westminster City Councilwoman is facing a misdemeanor charge of using her political influence to avoid her husband's car towed by the city, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Councilwoman Amy Phan West, 42, was charged Tuesday with a misdemeanor count of offering a bribe to a public officer. She was scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 24 in the West Justice Center in Westminster.

According to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, the councilwoman was operating a car rental business through the Turo application around Dorothy Street and Melanie Lane in Westminster, which drew about 20 calls for service regarding "dirty, unregistered or abandoned vehicles."

When two parking control officers ordered a tow of a Jeep registered to the councilwoman's husband on April 21, 2023, she asked them not to tow the vehicle and said she would move it herself. Prosecutors said she also told them she "loves" the police department and was "close friends" with the police chief and was advocating for pay raises for the department as its union was negotiating a new contract.

Phan West also showed the parking officers a police department keychain, prosecutors alleged.

The parking officers canceled the tow, prosecutors said.

An effort to reach Phan West for comment was not immediately successful.