Former Worcester senator pleads guilty to firearm larceny charges
Photo I Sam Doran/SHNS
Former Sen. Dean Tran (R-Worcester and Middlesex) at his swearing-in ceremony on Dec. 20, 2017.
Former Sen. Dean Tran of Fitchburg pleaded guilty to three state charges Monday in connection with stealing a firearm from an elderly constituent and misleading investigators about it, according to the attorney general's office.
With his trial scheduled to begin Monday, Tran, 49, pleaded guilty to larceny of a firearm, misleading law enforcement in a criminal investigation, and filing an application for a license to carry containing false information, the AG's office said. Tran was sentenced to six months in the Worcester House of Correction.
"Tran used his position of trust as a public official to take advantage of an elderly constituent who had called him for help in June of 2019," Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office said. "Tran convinced the constituent into parting with her late husband's firearm collection and gave her approximately $1,500 in cash for at least eight guns. When asked to return the firearms over that weekend, he did, but then came back early on Monday morning while the constituent was home alone and stole a Colt .45 pistol from the firearm collection."
Prosecutors said Tran gave police "several conflicting stories in an effort to mislead the police investigation."
In federal court in February, Tran was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, having been convicted of 23 felony counts including COVID and tax fraud. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023 and convicted in September 2024 of 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns in connection with a scheme to defraud the state and failure to report income to the IRS.
In Worcester Superior Court on Monday, Tran was sentenced to six months on each of the three charges, "to be served concurrently with each other and with the federal sentence he is currently serving," the AG's office said, noting three charges were dismissed "in consideration of the agreed plea."
A Republican, Tran served in the Massachusetts Senate from late 2017 until early 2021.
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