Former Danbury Postmaster Bilked U.S. Government Of $875K: Feds

DANBURY, CT — A former Danbury postmaster has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of nearly $875,000.

Ephrem D. Nguyen, 50, formerly of Brookfield, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty in Bridgeport on Friday to a fraud offense stemming from a bribery, kickback, and embezzlement scheme he operated during his time as Danbury postmaster.

While postmaster in November 2020, Nguyen required that all Danbury Post Office vehicle maintenance and repair work be performed by a certain vendor, even though Nguyen knew that another vendor already had a contract for with the Danbury Post Office for those services. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Nguyen demanded that the vendor provide free vehicle maintenance and repairs for himself, one of his children, a USPS employee, and an employee of Nguyen’s personal business.

In 2022, Nguyen solicited and received $90,000 in cash bribes from the vendor. In exchange, Nguyen caused the USPS to overpay the vendor for vehicle maintenance and repair, which Nguyen characterized as a "raise," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office statement. 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.

In addition, 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.

In toto, Nguyen defrauded the USPS of approximately $874,930.59, according to the release.

Nguyen pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. The judge scheduled sentencing for Jan. 5, 2024.

Nguyen, who is currently residing in Quincy, MA, is released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing.