Former Danbury Postmaster Sentenced To 4 Years in Prison: Feds

DANBURY, CT — A former Danbury postmaster who operated a bribery, kickback, and embezzlement scheme was sentenced to 48 months of jail time, followed by two years of supervised release.

Ephrem D. Nguyen, 51, was sentenced Tuesday in Bridgeport Superior Court.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Nguyen's responsibilities as postmaster included supervising the maintenance and repair of all equipment, facilities, and vehicles assigned to the post office.

In November 2020, Nguyen required that all Danbury Post Office vehicle maintenance and repair work be performed by a certain vendor, identified in court documents as “Vendor-1,” even though Nguyen knew that another vendor already had a contract for with the Danbury Post Office for those services. Nguyen demanded that Vendor-1 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 Michael D. Lutz, 26, of Seymour, the general manager of Vendor-1, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. On Feb. 21, 2024, Lutz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. He is awaiting sentencing.

In exchange for these bribes, Nguyen caused the USPS to overpay Vendor-1 for vehicle maintenance and repair, which Nguyen characterized as a “raise.” Between approximately January 2022 and February 2023, Nguyen used USPS credit cards to pay Vendor-1 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. On Oct. 13, 2023, Nguyen pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud.

Through these schemes, Nguyen defrauded the USPS of approximately $933,553, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. On Tuesday, the court ordered him to make full restitution.

Nguyen, formerly of Brookfield, has been residing in Quincy, MA, while released on a $100,000 bond. He is required to report to prison on May 30.