The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Tri Thanh Nguyen, 55, of San Francisco, with two counts of charging and collecting unauthorized fees for citizenship or naturalization proceedings, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1422.

The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1422 is five years and a fine of $250,000.00.  However, any sentence following conviction would be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion of the Court.  An indictment simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Nguyen must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

Mr. Nguyen made his initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in San Jose today.  The Court set bail at $100,000. The defendant's next scheduled appearance is at 9:30 a.m. on March 4, 2004 for sureties to sign an appearance bond.  The defendant was also ordered to appear on March 8, 2004 at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge James Ware for a trial setting hearing.

The prosecution is the result of an 11 month investigation by agents of the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Gary G. Fry is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Legal Technician Lakisha Holliman.