Westminster City Councilmember Amy Phan West has been charged with a misdemeanor count of bribery; prosecutors are alleging she tried to persuade a city parking control officer to not tow her husband’s Jeep. 

The Orange County District Attorney’s office said in a Thursday, Jan. 23, press release announcing the charge that West tried to bribe the officer in 2023 by referencing her friendship with the police chief and telling the officer she was a councilmember advocating for raises for Police Department personnel.

She is not accused of explicitly offering money to the officer, OCDA spokesperson Kimberly Edds said. 

Phan West could not be immediately reached Thursday morning for comment.

In its press release, the DA’s Office said two Westminster parking control officers were dispatched in April 2023 to near Dorothy Street and Melanie Lane to request a tow truck for an “abandoned” Jeep that was registered in the name of Phan West’s husband. 

The DA’s Office is alleging Phan West was running a car rental business in the area connected through the car-sharing app Turo.

Over the course of 2023, the Westminster PD responded to more than 20 calls for service for “dirty, unregistered or abandoned vehicles” near that intersection, the DA’s Office said.

All of those calls were related to vehicles associated with Phan West, her husband or her Turo business, Edds said. However, Edds was unsure of the number of vehicles involved or to whom each of the vehicles was registered. 

After the parking control officers requested the tow truck to remove the Jeep, Phan West is said to have identified herself and told the officers that she would move the car herself. 

The DA’s Office said Phan West told the officers that “she is close friends with the Westminster police chief, and that she is in the process of getting raises for Police Department personnel.”

She is also accused of showing the officers a Westminster PD keychain.

The City Council was engaged in contract negotiations with the Westminster Police Officers’ Association at the time, the DA’s Office noted. 

After her statements, the DA’s Office said the parking officials called to cancel the tow truck and left the abandoned Jeep parked on the street.

Although the DA’s statement references two parking control officers at the incident, Edds said Phan West is accused of bribing only one of them.

Phan West is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 24 at the Steven K. Tamura Justice Center in Westminster. Deputy District Attorney Matthew Bradbury is prosecuting the case. 

“The law applies equally to everyone, including elected officials,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “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 facing a lawsuit by the city of Westminster in which the city accuses her and fellow councilmember NamQuan Nguyen of a misdemeanor for disrupting meetings and impairing government business. 

The city is seeking a court order, including a temporary restraining order, that would legally require Phan West and Nguyen to stop speaking at council meetings “when they are not recognized by the mayor as having the floor.”

A judge is scheduled to hear that case on May 6. 

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