Raided Centers’ Operator Puts Cards on Table

First, Westminster police infiltrated two Vietnamese senior centers, secretly videotaping activities in the recreation rooms.

Then officers returned last week, citing 10 patrons for gambling in a crackdown that has stirred controversy in the city’s Little Saigon district and put the centers’ government funding at risk.

Authorities say their videotapes -- taken with the help of a senior who worked as an informant -- show operators of the Asian American Senior Citizens Assn. centers using the facilities as gambling halls. Police allege that the operators took a cut of the profits -- $500 to $1,000 a day.

But the raids have some center patrons and others questioning why the Police Department expended resources cracking down on what is a traditional Vietnamese pastime.

“The Americans play chess and bingo, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We do the same,” said Con Dang, an 80-year-old Garden Grove man who said he was playing cards at one of the centers last week when police swarmed in.

Dang said he was shocked when officers served search warrants and issued the citations. “I was scared to death,” said Dang, who, with his wife, who uses a wheelchair, takes a bus to one of the centers each day.

The centers’ founder, Kathy Diep, said police overreacted to a Vietnamese pastime.

The centers, which Westminster officials point to as examples of the city’s commitment to the Vietnamese community, have received about $250,000 in funding from the city in the last four years. A $100,000 grant approved in April for one of the centers will be frozen pending a full police investigation.

During the June 22 raids, police said they found a gathering of seniors seated at two tables playing tu sac, a popular Vietnamese card game. Playing cards, poker chips, a payment roster and other items were seized, officials said.

“Investigators witnessed significant illegal gambling, and no other services being provided to senior citizens,” said Westminster police Sgt. Bill Collins.

Diep denied that anyone was gambling. She said that the centers’ dealers were volunteers and were tipped a total of $2 a day by the players as a courtesy but that the games were merely for recreation and to help build a sense of community. Police said, however, that dealers made $5 to $10 an hour.

“There’s no money involved,” Diep said. “It’s a misunderstanding.”

The 10 seniors and three card dealers were given misdemeanor citations for illegal gambling but were not jailed. They will have to appear in court this month to enter pleas and could be subject to a fine or jail time.

The investigation was sparked by complaints from community members, alleging that gambling was taking place at the senior centers.

Police said they had warned the seniors and the center twice to halt gambling. When officers raided the center last week, some of the seniors were drinking beer and wagering, police said. Each senior had paid $60 for a dish of cards, of which the center took a $15 cut, police said.

Police are investigating whether Diep, who runs the Asian American Senior Citizens Assn., misused any city, state or federal funds.

City Council members who were interviewed said they were disappointed.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Mayor Margie Rice. “They’re seniors, and we always have supported our seniors. Until something like this should happen, how should we know what they’re doing?”

The Bolsa Avenue facility opened in 1991 to provide services to Asian American seniors and to promote Vietnamese culture. Diep said it operated with donations from its roughly 300 senior members. The association, awarded $198,000 by the city, bought and opened a second facility in 2001.

Diep said the centers provided three main cultural events each year -- one to mark the Lunar New Year and two that honor Vietnamese ancestors and emperors. Last year, food was served to patrons, but the program ended when volunteers became too frail to cook, she said.

The Bolsa Avenue center, in the heart of Little Saigon, and the Hospital Circle facility are social gathering places for seniors, Diep said.

“They’re old; they don’t have money,” she said. “There’s no money involved.”

Gambling is a cultural pastime among many Asians. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, buses take people each day to area casinos and Las Vegas. During Lunar New Year, families gather and wager on a dice game.

“Gambling is very accepted in Asian communities. It’s the culture,” said Timothy Fong, co-director of the gambling studies program at UCLA, where he is also an assistant professor of psychiatry.

Tam Ngo, 84, of Anaheim learned to play when she was barely a teen and dealt cards for her grandmother in Vietnam. Ngo takes a 20-minute bus ride almost daily to the Bolsa Avenue center. “If we like to gamble, we should be able to do it. It stimulates our minds.”