Former Mass. state senator receives more prison time for fraud

Local News

Dean Tran, 50, was sentenced to 11 months in federal prison. He is already in prison for other fraud charges.

Former Mass. State Sen. Dean Tran received more prison time on Friday on top of his current 18-month prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing justice and making a false statement to investigators, said federal prosecutors.

Tran, 50, was sentenced to 11 months in prison, 10 of which will be served concurrently with his 18-month sentence. After finishing his original sentence, he will then serve an additional month in federal prison, the office of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said in a press release.

Tran, a Republican, was a state senator from 2017 to 2021.

Tran pleaded guilty in December 2025 on one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making a false statement after he lied to federal investigators about the authorship of a pandemic unemployment letter.

During an investigation into fraudulent unemployment assistance, federal law enforcement asked Tran about a false letter he gave to unemployment agency officials in an attempt to have his benefits reinstated after they were temporarily suspended, said prosecutors. 

Tran “made material misrepresentations” of the letter and claimed that his sister was the sole author of the letter, but in actuality, Tran revised and signed the letter in his sister’s name, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

In September 2024, Tran was found guilty of fraudulently collecting pandemic unemployment assistance benefits and willfully omitting consulting and rental income from his tax returns in 2020, 2021, and 2022. He was sentenced in February 2025 to 18 months in prison.

Tran’s sister, Tuyet Martin pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in January 2026. She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13, 2026, Foley’s office said.

“Obstruction of justice, at a minimum, prolongs an investigation and costs the American taxpayers thousands of additional dollars. In these situations, obstruction can lead to the destruction or loss of evidence, allowing guilty parties to evade justice and deprive their victims of a fair and just outcome,” said Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office.

Tran has faced a cluster of criminal charges at both the federal and state level.

In September 2023, Tran was charged with two counts of violating the state ethics law after he allegedly ​​used members of his Senate staff to campaign for him while those staff members were on state time and state payroll and purportedly working for the Legislature, the Attorney General’s office said.

In 2022, Tran was hit with six charges involving an incident where he intimidated an elderly woman, stole a gun, and lied to investigators about it, the AG’s office said.

In June 2019, Tran visited an elderly constituent and coerced her into giving eight of her late husband’s firearms to Tran, prosecutors said. He allegedly also made her sign a prewritten contract and paid her $1,500 for at least eight firearms. 

Though Tran returned the guns the next day, he later forced his way into the home while the elderly woman was alone and stole a Colt .45 as she hid in her bedroom, prosecutors said.

During the investigation, Tran gave conflicting reasons as to why he took the guns, denying any type of firearm sale but later showing a sale contract for the guns, the AG’s office said.

In June 2025, Tran pleaded guilty to stealing the gun, giving misleading accounts to investigators, and filing an application for a gun license that included false information, the office of Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced. The other three charges stemming from the incident were dismissed in a plea deal, Campbell’s office said.

Tran was sentenced to six months of jail time for the gun incident, to be served concurrently with his federal prison time.