The sister of former State Senator Dean Tran will have to pay $40,000 and spend two years under supervised release for her role in a scheme involving the ex-legislator.
Tuyet Martin, 56, of New Hampshire, was sentenced last week after pleading guilty to a federal obstruction of justice charge earlier this year, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Martin wrote a fake employment offer letter for her brother that he used to obtain Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, federal prosecutors said. After Tran was arrested and charged in November 2023, investigators took a look at the letter, which was from a New Hampshire business Martin both owned and ran.
According to the U.S. Attorney, Martin lied to federal law enforcement and under oath during a grand jury session about the letter. She said that she authored the letter alone and signed it herself, even though prosecutors said it was actually reviewed and signed by Tran.
The Herald reached out to attorneys for both Martin and Tran but did not get a response back.
Tran was sentenced to an extra month in prison in connection to charges stemming from the scam job offer.
He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and making a false statement in December before a federal judge tacked on the extra time to the 18-month sentence he was already serving for the earlier convictions, including 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing a false tax return.
According to court documents, Tran filed for pandemic unemployment the day after his term in the Massachusetts State Senate ended in January 2021. He used the letter from his sister, without mentioning that they were related, during an appeal process with the state Department of Unemployment Assistance a few months later. In total, he received more than $30,000 in PUA between March and September.
While taking in the assistance, Tran also earned money as a consultant. He was charged additionally with failing to declare consulting income on his tax returns from 2020 to 2022.
In addition to the prison sentence, Tran must also pay more than $58,000 in restitution, fines, and mandatory assessments.
After the convictions and before the guilty pleas in federal court, Tran also pleaded guilty in June 2025 to stealing a gun from an older constituent while he was still in office.
According to the State Attorney General’s Office, Tran initially used his position as a lawmaker to convince the victim to sell her late husband’s firearm collection, which consisted of eight guns, for $1,500. After being asked to return the guns, Tran did so, but then returned when the victim was alone and stole another gun.
The six months Tran received for pleading guilty to larceny of a firearm, misleading law enforcement in a criminal investigation, and filing an application for a license to carry containing false information were served concurrently with the federal charges.
Tran, a Republican from Fitchburg, served in the Legislature from 2017 to 2021.
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