Former state Senator Dean Tran (R-Fitchburg) was sentenced to an additional year in federal prison last week for obstruction of justice and making false statements, federal prosecutors said.

Tran, 50, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston by Senior Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to one year in prison. Eleven months of that sentence will run concurrently with his current federal sentence, while one month will run consecutively. He was also sentenced to 18 months of supervised release, which will run concurrently with his existing supervised release term, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release.

Tran pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making a false statement. The charges stem from an effort to conceal his role in drafting a fraudulent job offer letter tied to an unemployment benefits investigation.

Tran is already serving an 18-month federal prison sentence after a jury convicted him in September 2024 of fraudulently collecting Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and failing to report consulting and rental income on his federal tax returns in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Federal prosecutors said the obstruction charge arose during the execution of a federal search warrant at Tran’s Fitchburg residence. While federal agents interviewed Tran at his home, they questioned him about a letter he had provided to unemployment agency officials after his benefits were briefly suspended.

Prosecutors said Tran made material misrepresentations during that interview. He told agents the letter had been authored by his sister, Tuyet T. Martin, even though she was not the sole author and Tran had revised the letter before it was submitted. Tran also told agents the letter featured his sister’s signature, when, in fact, Tran had signed the letter himself.

“This case is clear and simple. It is about entitlement,” Leah Foley, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in the press release. “Entitlement to benefits Mr. Tran was not owed, entitlement to lie when confronted, and entitlement to blame everyone but himself.”

Foley said Tran continued to deny responsibility even after his conviction.

“If you think you can lie to federal agents, manipulate the system and obstruct justice – you are sorely mistaken,” Foley said. “No one is above the law.”

Federal officials said Tran’s actions undermined the integrity of pandemic-era benefit programs and prolonged the investigation.

“Mr. Tran’s fraudulent receipt of pandemic unemployment benefits was compounded by false statements made to federal law enforcement,” Anthony D’Esposito, inspector general for the Department of Labor, said in the press release.

IRS Criminal Investigation officials said obstruction of justice increases costs for taxpayers and risks the loss of evidence.

The FBI said attempts to interfere with federal investigations threaten the justice system itself.

“When a former Massachusetts state senator does it, that’s even more egregious,” Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said in the press release.

Tran and Martin were indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2024. Martin pleaded guilty in January 2025 to one count of obstruction of justice and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13, 2026.

Tran represented the state's Worcester and Middlesex District from 2017 to 2021. His district included Fitchburg and several other northern central Massachusetts communities.