This has not been a good night for the Trannies. Not only did Hoa Van Tran see his campaign for the First Supervisorial District collapse when two of his cholo campaign workers were arrested for attempted murder, but now evidence has come to my attention that Dina Nguyen’s alleged brother may be an even worse maldito than Van Tran’s gang banger staffers.
On December 7, 2007, a fellow that has been fingered as Dina’s brother (or half-brother), who goes by the name of Vinh Hoang Tran, was arrested for his involvement in a major international drug ring. Dina’s parents, who own a house on Cherokee, in Westminster, put up their house for the $150,000 surety bond. That means his bail was $1.5 million and they put up ten percent. He is thought to be currently under house arrest and he is likely (although not known for certain) staying at the Cherokee house.
The house was originally purchased by Dina and Hung Vu in 1989 (listed as husband and wife, although there are no marriage records) and then Hung Vu quitclaimed the property to Dina in 1992. She sold the house to her parents in 1995 and the last time she reports living there was in 2001.
The drug bust that resulted in Vinh Hoang Tran’s arrest was HUGE. “Orange County was only one of several stops in an international scheme in which ringleaders transported marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamines across four countries to make the highest profit, authorities said,” according to the O.C. Register.
Here are a few more excerpts from the Register’s article:
Leaders took advantage of lax laws to cheaply produce drugs, and then smuggled them through Canada, Mexico, Australia and the United States to sell at the highest possible prices, said Jose Martinez, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Six of the 10 individuals named in a federal indictment resided in Orange County, in Westminster, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Anaheim, Martinez said. They were arrested Dec. 5, 6 and 7 as authorities served search warrants across California.
Thai Phi Do, 34, of Santa Ana and Luan Nguyen, 43, of Westminster, were the alleged heads of the cell in Orange County, Martinez said. The two took direction from 23-year-old Minh Tan Le, who investigators said led the entire operation from Vancouver, Canada, he said.
About $2 million in cash, 55,000 pills of ecstasy and 18 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in the investigation, which was dubbed Ramen Noodle by officials.
Also named in the indictment were Vinh Hoang Tran, 39, of Westminster; Trang Thuy Nguyen, 33, of Garden Grove; Huy Ich Nguyen, 50, of Huntington Beach; Marco Antonio Garcia, 40, of Anaheim; Truong Lam Ngo, 35, of Sydney, Australia; Joshua Lee Clark, 27, of Lake Elsinore; and Jinfa Wang, 52, of Rosemead.
High-volume narcotic sales in the United States, Mexico and Canada helped to aid the operation, an investigator said.
According to officials, large quantities of marijuana and ecstasy were transported from Canada to the United States, where they were sold in large quantities.
The money derived from sales in the United States was then transported by vehicle across the border to Mexico, Martinez said.
Ironic, isn’t it? Dina and the Trannies LOVE to complain about Mexicans. She even joined Assemblyman Van Tran and a plane full of Trannies in a tour of our border with Mexico, where they all ripped Mexican immigrants, as we reported previously. And now we find out that it is very likely that her own brother was involved in drug deals that sent boatloads of money to Mexican drug dealers!
You can read more about the arrest of Vinh Hoang Tran at this link. The court documents are available here. And the DEA published an article about the arrest here. In the court document you will see that Dina’s parents put up the Cherokee house as bail collateral to get Vinh Hoang Tran out of jail.
If all of this checks out, Dina Nguyen is as finished as Hoa Van Tran. How can we even think of voting for candidates whose family and staffers are steeped in crime? Supervisors have oversight over the Sheriff’s department! Be sure to take this into account when you vote on June 3.
Listen, great reporting. Thanks for the information. I dont know if I’d have ever put this together from the register article (or trusted it if I did). But that last paragraph? Really? Oh yeah, its the “say what you’re going to say, say it, then say what you said” isn’t it? It just seemed a little redundant, but hey, its a classic.
This developing story reminds me of the Jennifer Villasenor episode that was reported on the OJ a few years ago. Yo,Gila, where’s your outrage?
Wow Dina,
No income on your form 700 but then in your mailer your a succesful business woman. You loan your self over 50K in your campaign but you make no monies. I smell something very fishy here.
concerned,
Voter
The Trannies camp are full of criminals, I wonder what else we will find if we dig deeper? Van’s wife was charged with 9 counts of felony for insurance fraud now Dina’s brother is arrested for selling DRUGS? We’ve been trying to tell all of you about these thugs but you dont’ believe us… now it’s all coming out… there still more to come… GREAT JOB REPORTING.
You have got to be joking me. Does Van do nothing but run fools?!?!? Maybe he needs to start running background checks on the stooges before he selects them.
Art,
Wow!
I know you take a lot of heat (some it justified) for your stories, but this is great blogging/reporting!
The characters involved in the 1st District race could not be belived if pitched in a movie deal. Its too funny until you realize these people put themselves out there, knowing all these issues, and are taking the (rightful) public abuse.
Keep up the good work!
This has the makings of a Scorsese movie now. An international drug ring with a political candidates brother as the middle man. I guess it’s true what they say, you can pick your friends but not your family.
So when Dina went to the border was she checking on illegal immigration or the product her brother was receiving? Maybe both, a little work a little play.
I live over in the Indian Village area where this house is. That explains why I see so much of Dina over. She always in the van with Andy Quach. Its almost like she live in Westminster now instead Garden Grove. She always been known to be shady character around Bolsa, here is proof now.
Has anyone seen the length of her finger nails lately?
christ i know you cant expect politicians to be honest but i at least expect them to be slick. how long can something like this stay buried? and like you said the attitude of moral superiority and racist undertone of her border trip only makes it more ironic. what kind of spin can her people put on this?
Hey Dina,
Can I stop by and pick up my Kilo tonight or tomorrow.
Sleezy
Art, great job!!!
Both Hoa and Dina’s camps seem to be imploding just when it counts. I guess the rumors about the skeletons in Dina’s closet are true, except this one might lead to a mass grave.
I heard the same thing from the campaign of one of the other 1st District candidate a month or so ago, so I’m pretty certain that’s where Art got this information.
Candidates shouldn’t be held responsible for the behavior of their relatives. You can’t help who you’re related to.
Unless there is some evidence implicating Dina in her half-brother’s criminal activities, what bearing does this have on her qualifications (or lack thereof) to be Supervisor?
My first sentence should read:
“I heard the same thing from the campaign of one of the other 1st District candidate campaigns a month or so ago, so I’m pretty certain that’s where Art got this information.”
“what bearing does this have on her qualifications (or lack thereof) to be Supervisor?”
Simple… if she hangs around such people whos to say that she wont try and cut them deals from within the county?
Jubal,
I think the fact that when a candidate reports no income, yet they are able to loan themselves $50,000 for a campaign and their brother is tied to a major drug bust, yea, that’s cause for concern.
And what about the fact that the Supervisors oversee the Sheriff’s Department and the Jail system. When your brother is awaiting trial and possible sentencing that has to influence your vote when you are tasked with overseeing the security specifications and policy at the Orange County jails.
Nice try Jubal, but your grasping at straws on that argument.
To Art’s naysayers:
Now you know why he has been ‘hacking’ for Janet. Kudos to him. I think both parties should better screen their candidates, don’t you? Even ‘The LBC’ did the right thing, demanding campaign (and personal) accountability from ‘Homie Van Tran.’
I can kind of see why Paul Lucas considered filing now. But the letter fiasco and the fact that he could never win anyway both prove that he has questionable judgment at worst and poor impulse control at best.
Let’s all congratulate Supervisor Nguyen(again)!
SMS
Loaning yourself $50K when you have no stated income is something different altogether, and a legitimate line of inquiry. I’ll have to look into that.
As for the OCSD and the jail: read the article in Art’s post. This is a federal case. They keep their prisoners at the Santa Ana Jail, not the county jail.
Nice try, Better Pay Up — but you might want to acquire some facts that are actually relevant.
Yes 50 grand or so
25 or so the first time she ran and 25 this time around that is a lot of money for someone who claims on her Form 700 she makes no money. Wow 3 kids, a home, 3 offices etc; But no income where the hell did she get the money. Also on some of her real estate transactions she says she is married but quick deeds the property to herself and or her supposed spouse can we say shady. Also why does her property tax bill not go to her home house!
But going after someone through their family is sleazy.
With Dina’s latest revelation, let’s look at the Trannies’ Republican Law & Order creds:
-Van Tran’s wife and her family are convicted insurance frauds;
-Lan Nguyen’s brother is a twice convicted con-man;
-Dina Nguyen’s brother is an international drug dealer;
-Trung Nguyen’s a financially and morally bankrupt two-bit lawyer, who skipped out on student loans and property taxes;
Familial connection does not make one a crook, I must admit. However, when you have candidates who loan themselves thousands of dollars when they have no income to speak of, voters are right to question whether there are dark forces that prop these puppets up for some evil and corrupt purposes.
Art knock her for her own faults, not that of a half brother. And as a parent, why would you torment her parents with this, if it is true I am sure they have had a tought enough time. We ALL have a black sheep in our families. I have 1 or 2 in mine, but that does not make ME a bad person.
It’s very simple why Dina want to have a fence built. This would keep Mexican drug dealer from entering the US. It’s a threat to her brother’s drug deal. hehe
Flowerszzz-
You’re ignoring the fact that Dina is dumb as a brick. Maybe there are two black sheep in the family?
SMS
Jubal,
I find your ethical stand on candidates’ families laudable, even if it’s misplaced in Dina’s case. You already have the general picture painted by Dina’s shady real estate holdings as mentioned in the comments above; those in themselves should make her family’s potential drug connection a point of concern, especially about a candidate who is going to oversee the Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office and the O.C. Jail.
However, if you can dig a little deeper, you will see that the most troubling aspect to Dina’s financial history is the pattern of fraudulent transactions involving her homes.
Let me give you a thumbnail sketch of the scheme involved: apply for a loan to buy a house, claim someone to be your husband (even though you’re not married) so the loan application will go through, close the deal, the purported husband on the loan quitclaims the house to Dina, repeat. Aside from the fact that Dina claimed no income in the past two years since she became a lawyer, the biggest question is how can a county employee, who was a court clerk for years and raised 3 kids on her own, get all the money to buy all these homes and have money left over to loan herself to run political campaigns. If you don’t see reasons for concerns here and chalks all this up to ‘sleaze’ then I wonder what is your agenda.
Jubal,
And I think that Dina’s endless complaints about Mexicans while her own brother is dealing dope are pretty sleazy.
I also thought it was sleazy when you blogged the names of molestation victims…
I also thought it was sleazy when you blogged the names of molestation victims…
I guess you’re going to reach for that tired stick to try to change the subject every time you’re confronted with criticism from me that you cannot answer like an adult.
As I’ve pointed out before: I did not “blog the names of molestation victims.” You are intentionally — and typically — twisting the truth.. I posted, for less than a day, a deposition, not thinking the few names in it were unredacted. What I did was unintentional, rectified the moment it was brought to my attention and for which I profusely apologized.
On the other hand, you have now, for the at least the second time, intentionally and knowingly tried to slime someone with the crimes of a relative. You do so unrepentantly and without remorse.
So please don’t try to bring me down to your level.
flowerszzzzz, are you serious?! of course this needs to be made public and who cares how her parents feel? had they been better parents and showed their kids how to be moral decent people he wouldnt be mixed up in drugs and she wouldnt be mixed up with van tran and acting like a communist.
“why would you torment her parents with this”
Well, aren’t parents being tormented enough by being shot at in the city by Edgardo’s cholos? Perhaps flowerzzz is a cholo lover? *tee hee snicker snicker*
Matt/Jubal,
Ah, but you are not telling the whole story. You did all that WHILE DEFENDING A GUY WHO RAN INTERFERENCE FOR CHILD MOLESTERS. Now THAT was definitely sleazy.
Ah, and you are engaged in the classic Art Pedroza/Sean Mill tactic of change-the-subject — something you do whenever you have no response to a criticism.
It’s the mark of a weak mind with no intellectual ammunition.
Matt/Jubal,
And accusing me of having a weak mind is your best defense? You defended a guy, John Urell, who ran interference for molesters. He fled to Canada and said he was nuts rather than face the music, when he was called into a deposition. And you defended him. Rather than call me names, why don’t you tell us why you defended this creep?
As for your initial point about Dina, our readers have already made the case for why we NEED to know about her brother’s nefarious activities. When it comes to our electeds, we need to know everything about them, particularly when they are part of the corrupt Trannies organization. Have you forgotten that Van Tran’s wife was INDICTED for a slew of charges, including insurance fraud? I haven’t.
Matt/Jubal,
BTW, if you want to compare our intellectual abilities, I’ll put my MBA up against yours anytime. Oh that’s right. You don’t have one, do you?
I suspect we both make about the same amount of money too, but I make mine honestly while you are nothing more than a political sycophant and outright hack. Have you ever worked an honest day in your life?
Have to ask, did Dina receive any contributions from her brother/family (business)?
One has to wonder if this is laundered drug money.
Sean Mill is a cholo lover!!!
SMS – Being dumb as a brick does not make you a black sheep – lol!
Jose – PULEEZE get over yourself. I am SURE you are a perfect parent…lol. I know I am.
Anonymous – not a cholo lover BUT a meth lab exploded near my office in Santa Ana over the weekend! Hmmm – I bet somehow I am connected to the meth lab now! 🙂
Art – when has she complained about Mexicans? I have not seen it perhaps you could point it out? In fact the only one in this race that I have seen direct communication that was anti Mexican was your girlfriend in the race.
And Art – I ‘ll take street smarts over school smarts any day. You can go to school your whole life and still not have any common sense.
Flowerszzz-
A-ha! Then you admit she’s dumb as a brick! And personally, I think intelligence has a lot to do with how members of a family view each other.
SMS
lol Sara, I admitted no such thing – I just pointed out that does not make you a bad person. If that were true then are you saying all dumb people are bad people? COme on Sarah…that would mean MOST of Orange County.
Let’s see, while ya’all hanging out in courts looking up people’s backgrounds, how about checking out case number 07CC03168. This little saigon shuffle involved Janet Nguyen’s former home at 12682 Michael Ave, Garden Grove. In a scheme to defraud, Cuc Tran (Janet’s mom) transferred title on the property to her son, Nam Trung Nguyen (Janet’s brother) also known as Robert Nguyen (the Marine), who then obtained a new refinancing for 590K. The house now has been defaulted and foreclosed by the lender, thus preventing plaintiffs on case number 05CC10134 from collecting a judgment against Janet’s mother for fraud in the amount of $40K. Here are some other cases involving Janet’s brother and stepfather, in which they are defendants: 04CC12152, 03CC12460. Another case involving breach of contract action against Cuc Tran: 04CC06046.
Flowerszzz –
‘most of Orange County’… just not Dina, right? 😛 No, I’m not saying they’re bad people; I’m saying they’re prone to marginalization which is essentially what makes one a ‘black sheep.’
SMS
BTW, if you want to compare our intellectual abilities, I’ll put my MBA up against yours anytime. Oh that’s right. You don’t have one, do you?
I suspect we both make about the same amount of money too, but I make mine honestly while you are nothing more than a political sycophant and outright hack. Have you ever worked an honest day in your life?
I don’t need a graduate degree to convince myself I’m smart. And I’m sure all your readers who also don’t have graduate degrees appreciate you denigrating their intellects, as well.
It doesn’t take much prodding for the fangs and claws come out, does it?
Thank you, once again, for showing your true, cyber-bully colors, Art.
Zen Man:
Hey, that’s no allowed! In Art”s world, you’re only allowed to use family members to smear candidate Art doesn’t like!
Ad I’m curious, Art: did you ever call Dina to get her side of the story?
You criticized me for not talking to Janet before posting my story about Jimmy Camp — and I can’t imagine you would not apply to yourself the same standard you expect of others.
Zen Man,
Janet Nguyen never lived on Michael St. Get it right.
Maybe the loads of EX that Dina’s brother was getting is responsible for Andy “I trained with Navy SEALS” Quach’s tweaked out appearance.
JABAL, the story is in the OC Register for God’s sake, why does Art have to call Dina for her side of the story? What the hell do u mean by that? To find out if her helicopter ride to the border was to check out safe routes for her brother to deliver these drugs or does it server other purpose? Are you being paid by these thugs now? As for FLOWERZZZZ, you are concerned about Dina’s parents feelings about this posting? Are you concerned at all for ALL THE PARENTS AND CHILDRENS whose lives are destroyed by these EVIL DRUG DEALERS? Ask those parents how they feel before you open your mouth and defend the parents of these drug lords.
I’ve always enjoyed your postings Jabal, but going after Art and defending an International Drug Dealer is very wrong!!! You’ve always been a very sensible person and I really enjoy getting to know you through the blog but I have to say I am very disappointed to see you rolling right into the mud along with these TRANNIES. Our Viet community has lost all respect for them, they are suppose to have high moral standards but instead, they are all crooks or having close ties to them… Jabal, I dont’ care if you disagree with Art, but you need to step back and think about it on this issue with Dina’s brother and that’s all I ask….