• About
  • Events
  • Community Calendar
  • Advertise
  • Subscriptions
  • Foundation
  • Contact
  • Seattle Chinese Post

Northwest Asian Weekly

  • Community
    • Names in the News
    • Local
    • Business
    • Pictorials
    • Obituaries
  • Nation
  • World
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Columns
    • On the Shelf
    • At the Movies
    • A-POP!
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • The Layup Drill
    • Travel
    • Wayne’s Worlds
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentary
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Astrology
  • Classifieds
  • Community Calendar
You are here: Home / News / National News / Former House candidate sentenced to a year in prison

Former House candidate sentenced to a year in prison

February 17, 2011 By Northwest Asian Weekly

By Amy Taxin
The Associated Press

Tan Nguyen

SANTA ANA, California (AP) — A former California congressional candidate accused of sending a mailer to Latino voters in 2006 warning that immigrants could not vote was sentenced Monday, Feb. 14 to a year and a day in prison for obstruction of justice.

Tan Nguyen, a Republican who was running for Congress in Orange County, will also serve six months in a residential re-entry program and three years of supervised release, federal prosecutor Greg Staples said.

Nguyen declined to comment on the hearing before U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, except to say it didn’t go well.

He will start serving his term March 28.

A jury convicted Nguyen in December of one count of obstruction of justice for lying to state investigators about his knowledge of a letter sent to 14,000 registered Democrats with Latino surnames during his bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez in 2006.

The letter, written in Spanish, said, “You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time.”

Immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens are eligible to vote.

During the trial, prosecutors accused Nguyen of being behind the mailer, while his defense attorney argued that Nguyen saw an initial English draft of the text, but had nothing more to do with it.

The California attorney general’s office, which investigated the letter, did not file criminal charges against Nguyen.

Defense attorney Dean Steward said that should have been the end of the probe. He questioned the federal government’s interest in the case.

“Why is the FBI sticking their nose into it?” Steward said after sentencing. He said Nguyen will appeal his conviction.

The controversy about the letter erupted three weeks before the election on Nov. 2, 2006. Sanchez beat Nguyen by nearly 24 percentage points to earn her sixth term representing the central Orange County district, which is home to sizable Latino and Vietnamese American communities. ♦

Share:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: National News Tagged With: 2011, Dean Steward, Democratic Rep, FBI, Former House, Greg Staples, Loretta Sanchez, Orange County, Tan Nguyen, Vietnamese American, Vol 30 No 8 | February 19 - February 25, letter

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Find us on Issuu!

Subscribe to our e-news

© 2020 NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
412 MAYNARD AVE. S., SEATTLE, WA 98104
206-223-5559 | INFO@NWASIANWEEKLY.COM
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.