Braintree man pleads responsible after utilizing useless teen’s id for years – together with to change into a firefighter

Crime

Truong Nguyen, 40, pleaded responsible to passport fraud and aggravated id theft, with sentencing scheduled for June 12.

A Braintree man pleaded responsible Wednesday to stealing the id of a deceased teenager to use for certifications, government-issued paperwork, and a job with the Melrose Hearth Division, in keeping with officers.

Truong Nguyen, 40, pleaded responsible to passport fraud and aggravated id theft, with sentencing scheduled for June 12, in keeping with a press release from the USA Legal professional’s workplace in Boston. Nguyen was initially arrested and charged in Might 2024.

Nguyen, referred to within the assertion as John Doe, used the id of a 13-year-old teenager — who died in Boston in 2002 and is recognized within the assertion as HH — as early as 2018, when he was issued a Massachusetts driver’s license and a Social Safety card within the teen’s identify.

Nguyen additionally used the id to get a EMT-Fundamental Certification in 2021 and an EMT-Paramedic Certification in 2023, in keeping with the assertion. He attended the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy from November 2023 to January 2024 and labored on the Melrose Hearth Division after commencement — all underneath the teenager’s identify.

Nguyen, initially from Vietnam, utilized for a U.S. passport in March 2023 and offered the useless teen’s Social Safety quantity, a replica of his U.S. start certificates, and a Massachusetts driver’s license. The Boston Passport Company flagged the appliance for matching particulars with the dying certificates for HH, and didn’t situation the passport to Nguyen.

Additional investigation discovered Nguyen was topic to an RMV fraud listening to in August 2018 after being discovered to make use of two identities — his personal and HH. RMV closed the case after Nguyen offered a start certificates and Social Safety card of HH.

Nguyen entered the U.S. in 1979 as a authorized everlasting resident however was ordered to be deported in 1995 after being convicted of second-degree housebreaking in 1991. However Nguyen was not bodily deported to Vietnam, and was charged once more in 2010 with embezzlement and larceny after allegedly stealing over $46,000 from the Norwell Firefighters Union whereas working for them.

The cost of false assertion in a passport software carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail, three years of supervised launch, and a $250,000 wonderful.