Case Explained: State watchdog removes Orange County judge from the bench – Legal Perspective

Former Orange County Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro, who is facing sentencing for workers’ compensation fraud, has been removed from the bench, the state’s judicial watchdog organization announced Tuesday.

Claustro, 50, pleaded guilty Jan. 12 to one count of mail fraud and agreed to resign as a judge, authorities said. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 26.

The Commission on Judicial Performance issued a public censure and a bar on future judicial office.

Claustro committed his crime before he was elected judge, but the commission said the conduct has brought “the judicial office into disrepute,’’ prompting the punishment.

The commission also found that “he failed to promptly report to the commission when he was charged in court by information with any crime in the United States.’’

Claustro stipulated to the commission’s report and chose not to fight the punishment. The ex-prosecutor, who became a judge in 2022, resigned from office Jan. 12.

Claustro engaged in the fraud scheme with Dr. Kevin Tien Do, 60, of Pasadena, while he was a prosecutor with the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Do, 60, pleaded guilty Jan. 3, 2025, to single counts each of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and subscribing to a false tax return.

Claustro’s attorney, Paul Meyer, said in January that Claustro “deeply regrets his wrongful 2022 participation in a business venture that did not involve any part of his work as a district attorney and ended before he became a judge.

“He takes full responsibility for his actions, and cooperated fully in the investigation. In good faith, with sadness, he is voluntarily resigning his judicial office.’’

Claustro had served in the Family Law Court since his election and was on leave since the beginning of this year.

According to Claustro’s plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend probation or up to six months in home confinement and will not seek charges related to taxes.

But federal prosecutors are still free to go after Claustro in the future “for any other unlawful past conduct or any unlawful conduct that occurs after the date of this agreement,’’ according to the deal.

Claustro operated Rancho Cucamonga-based Liberty Medical Group Inc., even though he was not a doctor or medical professional, which is required under state law, prosecutors said.

When Do was charged in 2024, prosecutors alluded to Claustro as an unnamed co-conspirator. In his plea agreement, Do acknowledged Claustro was the actual owner and that Do was also unable to do the work because he had been suspended due to a 2003 conviction for felony health care fraud.

“I was paid $306,111 for work I should not have done,’’ Do said in court when he pleaded guilty last year.

Prosecutors allege that Claustro was aware of Do’s prior criminal conviction and inability to work in the program.

Do appealed his suspension and informed Claustro when he lost that appeal in October 2018, prosecutors said.

“I knew Dr. Do prepared medical reports after being suspended from the workers’ compensation program,’’ Claustro said at his change-of-plea hearing in January.

In Claustro’s plea agreement, he admitted to defrauding the state’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, which is part of the state’s workers’ compensation program that helps injured workers who already have a disability due to work.

Claustro paid Do to prepare medical reports, prosecutors said. The fraud scheme involved using other doctors’ names on the billing forms and reports, they added. Prosecutors pegged the loss at about $38,670, and said the state paid more than $3 million of the company’s billings.

Do hired a medical professional to do patient evaluations, and that person died in December 2021 of natural causes, prosecutors said. After that, Claustro allegedly continued to pay Do for medical evaluations, medical record reviews and preparation of med-legal reports.