An Orange County man was sentenced to life in federal prison Monday for shooting a man who owed him money and leaving him to drown in the Pacific Ocean, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hoang Xuan Le, a Fountain Valley man also known as “Wayne” or “Wangsta,” faced the mandatory life sentence after he pleaded guilty or was convicted of multiple charges — including murder — in December 2021 and February 2022.
With the help of 43-year-old Sheila Marie Ritze of San Juan Capistrano, Le took the victim — identified only as Dao — out on Ritze’s boat in October 2019, ostensibly for a lobster-fishing trip.
Instead, Le, 42, shot Dao and left him to drown off the coast of Dana Point Harbor. His body was found floating the next day with visible bullet and blunt force trauma wounds.
Ritze was convicted last year for her role in the killing, and she was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison.
“Le committed murder, and, as a result, [the victim’s] family will never see him again,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Le’s crime has left a grieving mother, grieving widow, grieving brothers, a grieving sister, and two fatherless small children.”
