A Vietnamese comedian pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually assaulting an underage boy in Orange County.
Minh Quang Hong, 38, of Garden Grove, was caught in a sting by Garden Grove police in which an officer posed as a 13-year-old boy whom Hong admitted he agreed to meet for sex, according to Deputy District Attorney Bobby Taghavi.
Hong, who is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16, is expected to be given an 18-month prison sentence, Taghavi said. Hong, who has been in custody since March, may have already served most of his time behind bars by then, and it was not immediately clear how much time in custody he would have left.
Messages left with Hong’s attorney, Mia Yamamoto, were not immediately returned.
Hong split his time between Vietnam and Garden Grove, where he often stayed with relatives, Nguyen said.
Hong, who goes by the stage name Minh Beo and does stand-up comedy and humorous skits, was on the road from Vietnam to Orange County and Atlanta when he met the victim, Taghavi said.
Hong told a group of dancers at a Huntington Beach radio station talent show on March 20 that he was holding auditions for a video, Taghavi said. Three days later, he sexually assaulted the victim when he arrived for an audition, the prosecutor said.
After the boy went to Garden Grove police, the department used the boy’s cell phone to stage a sting, and Hong showed up for a meeting with the boy on March 24, Taghavi said.
Hong admitted a count of oral copulation of a minor and a count of attempting to commit a lewd act on a child younger than 14, both felonies. As part of the plea deal, a felony count of meeting with a minor to engage in lewd conduct was dropped.
–City News Service