BOSTON — A Vietnamese national living in Braintree has been sentenced to prison for stealing the identity of a dead 13-year-old for several years, eventually using the stolen name to become a Melrose firefighter.
Truong Nguyen, 40, also known as “John Doe,” was sentenced to 25 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement on Thursday.
U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper handed down his sentence Wednesday in federal court in Boston. He will be subject to deportation proceedings after serving his sentence.
Nguyen, whose identity was not known at the time he was charged, pleaded guilty in March to passport fraud and aggravated identity theft.
He was arrested and charged in May 2024 and released on conditions including an unsecured bond of $50,000. He was later indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2024.
“This defendant has illegally resided in the Unites States for over 30 years, assuming false identities to dodge deportation resulting from a 1991 felony conviction,” Foley said Thursday.
“For the last six years, Mr. Nguyen exploited the identity of a deceased child to avoid accountability for a litany of criminal offenses, including attempting to obtain a U.S. passport and falsifying information to become a firefighter,” Foley said.
“Such identity fraud undermines the integrity of our identification systems,” Foley said. “Our office is committed to holding accountable those who steal American identities and manipulate our public institutions for personal gain.”
Prosecutors initially identified Nguyen as “John Doe” because his true identity was unknown at indictment. At the plea hearing, he stated under oath that his true identity is Truong Nguyen, Foley said.
Prosecutors said that Nguyen stole the identity of his young cousin, Henry Huang, who died in 2002, to obtain a driver’s license and passport, gain entry into the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, apply for work and ultimately get hired by the Melrose Fire Department in January 2024.
Nguyen entered the United States from Vietnam legally in December 1979. In 1995, his status was revoked and he was ordered deported after being convicted of second-degree burglary in 1991.
While he was ordered deported, investigators later learned that Nguyen was not physically deported to Vietnam.
Nguyen was arrested in 2010 for stealing more than $46,000 from the Norwell Firefighters Union while working as an officer of the union, according to prosecutors.
Before being hired by the Melrose Fire Department, Nguyen obtained a Massachusetts EMT-Basic Certification under Huang’s name, the criminal complaint showed.
In March 2023, Nguyen submitted a passport application in person at the U.S. post office in Weymouth, presenting himself to be the dead victim, Foley said.
For the application, Nguyen provided the victim’s date of birth and Social Security number, a copy of the victim’s U.S. birth certificate, as well a Massachusetts driver’s license with the victim’s information.
In June 2023, the Boston Passport Agency forwarded Nguyen’s passport application and supporting documents to federal law enforcement, after verifying a death record for Huang, the dead victim, when reviewing the application.
The Social Security number, date of birth and parental information provided by Doe in his passport application matched the records for the dead victim, prosecutors said. It was ultimately confirmed that Huang died in Boston in 2002 at the age of 13.
The passport was not issued to Nguyen.
A subsequent investigation found that he used the victim’s identity to obtain and use multiple government-issued identification documents in the victim’s name, including Massachusetts driver’s licenses in June 2018, January 2019 and April 2023, as well as a Social Security card in the victim’s name in 2018.
Nguyen also used the dead victim’s identity to obtain an EMT-Basic Certification in 2021 and an EMT-Paramedic Certification in 2023, before going on to apply for employment as a paramedic, again using the stolen identity, prosecutors said.
From November 2023 to January 2024, Nguyen used the dead victim’s identity to attend the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, prosecutors said.
After graduating, Nguyen started working with the Melrose Fire Department in the name of the victim, where he worked until his arrest in May 2024.
Nguyen, while using the victim’s identity, was the subject of an RMV fraud hearing in August 2018, prosecutors said.
A facial recognition hit determined that he had been issued Massachusetts driver’s licenses under two separate identities – that of Truong Nguyen issued in February 2018 and that of the dead victim issued in June 2018.
At the fraud hearing, Nguyen claimed the victim’s identity was his true identity and presented a birth certificate and Social Security card issued under the dead victim’s identity.
As a result of that hearing, the RMV closed the case, concluding that the victim was Nguyen’s true identity and suspending his license for six months. However, the investigation found that he matched the identity of Nguyen and the individual’s corresponding records which span from 1997 to 2018.
“Deterring, detecting, and investigating U.S. passport and visa fraud are essential to protecting the integrity of consular processes and safeguarding our national security,” Matthew O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service Boston Field Office, said in a statement on Thursday.
“DSS, working with our law enforcement partners, successfully led this investigation which brought charges and a conviction against this individual who committed identity theft, passport fraud, and then evaded U.S. law enforcement by assuming the identity of a deceased child for many years,” O’Brien said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
