Feds: Man pleads guilty in Danbury post office bribery scheme

BRIDGEPORT — A Seymour man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a scheme to bribe the postmaster of the Danbury post office in return for kickbacks, officials say.

In a release, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut’s office said Michael Lutz, 26, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in Bridgeport to a conspiracy offense related to the scheme.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Ephrem D. Nguyen was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as the postmaster of the Danbury post office. It said the responsibilities in that role included supervising the maintenance and repair of all equipment, facilities and vehicles assigned to the post office.

Lutz was the general manager for a company, identified in court documents as “Vendor-1,” the U.S. attorney’s office said, which provided vehicle maintenance and repair services for the Danbury Post Office.

In November 2020, the U.S. attorney’s office said, Nguyen required that all Danbury Post Office vehicle maintenance and repair work be performed by Vendor-1, even though Nguyen knew that another vendor already had a contract 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,” it said.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Nguyen solicited and received from Lutz $90,000 in cash bribes in 2022. It said Lutz paid from Vendor-1’s proceeds.

In exchange for these bribes, the U.S. attorney’s office said, 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, it said, Nguyen used USPS credit cards to pay Vendor-1 about $1.1 million, approximately $260,000 of which was for legitimate maintenance and repair work.

The USPS lost approximately $843,271 though this scheme, the U.S. attorney’s office said, adding Lutz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. His sentencing is scheduled for May 16, it said, adding he is released on bond.

On Oct. 13, 2023, the U.S. attorney’s office said, Nguyen pleaded guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud related to this scheme and also admitted that he 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. It said that he approved more than $8,000 in fraudulent travel expense reimbursement claims for a co-worker.

Nguyen is released on $100,000 bond and residing in Massachusetts while awaiting sentencing, the U.S. attorney’s office said.