A former Brookfield resident pleaded guilty to operating a bribery, kickback and embezzlement scheme while he was employed as the postmaster at the Danbury Post Office.
In November 2020, Ephrem D. Nguyen announced to his workforce that all of the Danbury Post Office’s vehicle maintenance and repair work be performed by a certain vendor, even though another vendor already had a contract for those services. Nguyen demanded that the vendor provide free vehicle maintenance and repairs for himself, one of his children, a USPS employee, and employee of Nguyen’s personal business.
In 2022, Nguyen solicited and received $90,000 in cash bribes from the vendor in exchange for enabling the vendor to be overpaid by the U.S. Postal Service for vehicle maintenance and repair services – which Nguyen characterized as a “raise.” Between approximately January 2022 and February 2023, Nguyen used USPS credit cards to pay the vendor more than $1 million, or approximately $760,000 more than necessary to pay for legitimate maintenance and repair work.
Furthermore, Nguyen embezzled more than $80,000 from the USPS by using his USPS credit cards to rent vehicles for the personal use of himself and others, and he approved more than $8,000 in fraudulent travel expense reimbursement claims for a co-worker. Through these schemes, Nguyen defrauded the USPS of approximately $874,930.59.
“The public must have confidence that Postal Service employees will conduct their work in an honest manner,” said Kenneth Cleevely, special agent in charge of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “When employees commit serious offenses, such as taking bribes, they will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted. We are gratified to have contributed to this investigation and applaud the exceptional work by the United States Attorney’s Office for assuring that there is no place for public corruption anywhere within the Postal Service.”
Nguyen pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. Nguyen who is currently residing in Quincy, Massachusetts, is released on a $100,000 bond pending his sentencing on Jan. 5, 2024.
