Former Sen. Dean Tran facing more criminal charges. This time, his sister is also involved
FITCHBURG — Former state Sen. Dean Tran of Fitchburg and his sister Tuyet T. Martin were indicted on obstruction of justice charges related to an alleged attempt to cover up a sham job offer for Tran, the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy announced Friday.
Tran, 48, a Republican and former 2022 candidate for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District, already faces several charges in other cases.
The indictment was unsealed in federal court in Boston on Friday charging Tran and Martin, 54, of Pelham, New Hampshire.
Tran faces one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making a false statement, according to Levy's office.
Martin faces two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury. She was arrested Friday morning and will appear in federal court in Boston in the afternoon. Tran will appear at a later date.
In November 2023, Tran was arrested and charged in a 28-count federal indictment over an alleged fraudulent collection of pandemic unemployment assistance benefits as well as willful omission of consulting and rental income from his 2020, 2021 and 2022 tax returns.
According to Levy's office, the new indictment stems from an investigation into the COVID-19 benefits fraud allegations.
As part of that investigation, authorities looked into a purported job offer Martin made to Tran at Alecon Enterprises Inc. Martin was an owner and the CEO of Alecon.
During a June 2022 search of Tran's residence, the indictment alleges that Tran made false statements to agents about a job offer letter Martin had provided Tran.
Martin is alleged to have concealed and attempted to delete emails between her and Tran that pertain to the employment offer letter and allegedly provided false testimony about the letter before a federal grand jury in July 2023.
“Anyone who obstructs a federal investigation is attempting to subvert the course of justice,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston Division, said in a statement. “Today, former Massachusetts State Senator Dean Tran and his sister Tuyet Martin are accused of doing exactly that, in an effort conceal Mr. Tran’s alleged attempts to steal tens of thousands of dollars from public assistance programs at the expense of those in need. Make no mistake, the FBI and our partners will not hesitate to bring to justice anyone foolish enough to try to interfere with our cases.”
In addition to Friday's indictment and Tran's COVID fraud charges, Tran was indicted on two charges of violating state ethics law in September 2023. The charges stem from longstanding allegations he had his Senate staff campaign for him on state time.
In July 2022, Tran was indicted for allegedly taking a firearm from an elderly constituent and misleading investigators about what had happened.
In March, Tran's former chief of staff Christianne Mylott-Coleman was sentenced in federal court in Springfield for filing false and fraudulent tax returns between 2016 and 2020.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Former state Sen. Dean Tran of Fitchburg facing more criminal charges
