Westminster police raided a rental property owned by City Councilmember Kimberly Ho on illegal gambling suspicions this week.
Arrests have been made, but authorities wouldn’t give more specifics.
Ho, reached for comment, confirmed it was her rental property that was raided. Asked whether she knew about the illegal gambling, she said she inherited some tenants when she bought the house, which county records show happened on June 21.
It’s one of several she has acquired within the county between June and October this year, according to county and city records.
“We, of course, were not involved in any way. We will cooperate with investigators,” Ho said, acknowledging she relies on property managers to oversee her rentals and that her team will have to do better background-checking going forward.
Police conducted the Wednesday raid at a house “in the area of Edwards and Tillamook,” said Westminster Police Cmdr. Scott Gump over the phone Thursday. “It was related to a possible illegal gambling residence, arrests were made and evidence was seized.”
Gump said he couldn’t disclose how many were arrested.
On Friday, Police Cpl. Alan Aoki, reached over the phone, also said he also couldn’t disclose that detail.
In that area, Ho and her partner own a rental property on Tillamook Avenue, according to county Clerk-Recorder records.
Gump and Aoki both said they couldn’t confirm the exact address of the property raided.
In a Thursday phone interview, Ho said she relies heavily on managers to check on her property, but said “I will have to let my rental company to know to be a lot more careful with people even though we inherited the renters from the previous owner.”
“We’ll probably have to do a more thorough background check. I do recognize that it is one of our houses. I saw the pictures,” Ho said. “We want to make sure nothing like that goes on, not just limited to our property, but our city, period.”
Ho must disclose any income from such rental properties in financial disclosures with state elections authorities, the Fair Political Practices Commission.
Her most recent disclosure for the year 2020, known as a Form 700, was filed in April, according to records available online.
In that filing, Ho disclosed that she received income from three different rental properties around Little Saigon in 2020, two of which she reported to earn more than $100,000 for.
FPPC officials say she failed to file such a statement for the year 2019, according to a letter addressed to Ho and dated Sept. 23.
Ho said she was unaware of the letter when asked about it Friday, but would look into it.
Her income also comes from her skincare business, Kimberly Skin, Inc., according to her financial statements. One of her beauty product stores in Westminster became the center of elections controversy last November, over allegations it hosted a fraudulent voting site.
District Attorney Todd Spitzer’s office opted not to file charges, said DA spokesperson Kimberly Edds to Voice of OC back in July when asked for an update on the case. His office has since closed the investigation.