Former Connecticut postmaster Ephrem D. Nguyen has pleaded guilty to defrauding the U.S. Postal Service of nearly $875,000. Nguyen, who served as the postmaster in Danbury since 2003, admitted to engaging in a scheme involving cash bribes, misuse of USPS credit cards, and demands for free personal vehicle repairs.
Nguyen’s guilty plea, announced on Monday, comes after an ongoing investigation into the case. The former postmaster was charged with honest services wire fraud, a crime that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Nguyen’s federal public defender declined to comment on the case.
According to federal prosecutors, Nguyen abused his position by requiring maintenance and repair work to be performed by a specific vendor, despite another vendor already having a contract with the Danbury post office. He then demanded the new vendor provide free repairs to his personal vehicle and the vehicles of others, including a USPS employee and an employee at Nguyen’s personal business.
Prosecutors further revealed that Nguyen solicited and received bribes totaling $90,000 from the same vendor in exchange for ensuring the USPS overpaid for the work. He used USPS credit cards to pay the vendor over $1 million between January 2022 and February 2023, resulting in approximately $760,000 in unnecessary expenses.
Additionally, Nguyen embezzled over $80,000 by using his USPS credit cards to rent vehicles for personal use and approved fraudulent travel expense reimbursement claims for a co-worker, totaling more than $8,000.
Nguyen, who now resides in Quincy, Massachusetts, was released on a $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 5, 2024.
