OC woman sentenced to 22 years for role in killing of drug dealer on her boat

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A year after she was convicted of helping to kill a marijuana dealer in a boat off the Orange County coast, a San Juan Capistrano woman has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison.

Sheila Marie Ritze of San Juan Capistrano was convicted in 2022 for the killing of 44-year-old Tri "James'' Dao in 2019.

Co-defendant Hoang Xuan Le - also known as "Wayne" or "Wangsta" - was convicted last year of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and using a firearm to commit a crime of violence, and pleaded guilty to multiple other drug- and weapons-related charges. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison at his sentencing hearing on July 17.

The video in the media player above is from an earlier report on this story

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter sentenced Ritze to 262 months in federal prison, referring to her conduct as "horrific and horrendous."

READ MORE: FBI arrests 2 months after man shot on boat off Orange County coast

Prosecutors said Ritze and Le took the victim out for a trip on her fishing boat off Dana Point Harbor on Oct. 15, 2019.

Le shot Dao on the boat and he went overboard and Le and Ritze then returned to the harbor.

Fishermen in San Diego County found his body 36 hours later. Dao had a graze wound to the back of the head and was shot in the back and suffered blows to the head, but his cause of death was listed as drowning, prosecutors said during the trial.

Dao dealt marijuana for Le and owed his boss money, prosecutors said. During trial, prosecutors presented evidence of Ritze lying multiple times to investigators about knowing the victim and what happened that night.