BOSTON — A former state senator convicted of fraud who wants a pardon from President-elect Donald Trump says he recently witnessed a police-involved shooting, as he pushed for a delay in his sentencing.

Dean Tran, a Massachusetts Republican who ran for Congress, last year was found guilty of pandemic assistance fraud and making false statements on federal tax returns. He was convicted by a federal jury of 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns.

Tran was supposed to be sentenced today, but that was delayed after his attorney called for a postponement following the reported shooting.

Tran’s lawyer said the ex-state senator “recently witnessed, up-close, a police-involved shooting in Fitchburg,” and cited his “mental health concerns.”

“All parties survived and the incident is currently being investigated by local and state police,” Tran’s attorney Michael Walsh wrote in the motion to delay sentencing. “The police reached out and this involved counsel, also serving as state-court defense counsel, to sit in on the interview. Following the interview, Defense Counsel made his own observations about the Defendant.

“Defense Counsel is now of the opinion that the mental health concerns previously identified may be significantly understated, and seeks a little bit of time to assess whether additional psychological evidence would be useful to the Court,” the lawyer added. “Frankly, Counsel wants to investigate the Defendant’s condition himself, being concerned that the prior disclosed issued are catastrophically underrated, including by the Defendant himself.”

Fitchburg Police last month reported a police-involved shooting. Police had received a 911 call reporting a man with a firearm. He reportedly did not have a shirt on, and he was making suicidal statements while on Lunenburg Street.

When the police officer arrived at the scene, the cop got out of his vehicle to “deescalate the situation,” police said in a statement.

“Moments later the subject pointed a firearm directly at the officer,” Fitchburg Police said. “The officer discharged his department-issued firearm, striking the subject. The officer immediately began to render medical aid to the wounded man. The man was stable at the scene and transported to an area hospital where his condition remains stable.”

The cop who shot the man is a two-year veteran of the department, and he was placed on administrative leave as required by policy.

Following the motion from Tran’s attorney about the shooting, Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor ended up delaying the sentencing for two weeks.

Tran served in the Massachusetts State Senate, representing Worcester and Middlesex Counties from 2017 to January 2021.

After Tran’s State Senate term ended in 2021, Tran fraudulently received pandemic unemployment benefits while he was also employed as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based retailer of automotive parts (the Automotive Parts Company). While working as a paid consultant, Tran fraudulently collected $30,120 in pandemic unemployment benefits.

Also, Tran concealed $54,700 in consulting income that he received from the Automotive Parts Company from his 2021 federal income tax return. This was in addition to thousands of dollars in income that Tran concealed from the IRS while collecting rent from tenants who rented his Fitchburg property from 2020 to 2022.

The indictment included a forfeiture allegation, meaning that the U.S. Attorney’s Office would seek the forfeiture of property following a conviction. The judge ruled that Tran should have to forfeit $25,100 to the feds.

Tran’s attorney recently filed a motion to appeal that amount.

“In order to challenge the Government’s loss and financial calculations, the Defendant seeks to place before the Court financial documentation,” his lawyer wrote. “The documents are a highly revealing examination into Mr. Tran’s life and that of his family. These documents are essentially a full examination of his status, the financial equivalent of wearing the Emperor’s New Clothes.”

When President Biden pardoned his son Hunter last month, Tran called for Trump to give him an “unconditional pardon.”

“A full investigation into Senator Tran’s cases and an unconditional pardon is warranted,” Tran posted.

Tran in 2017 became the first Vietnamese-American elected to the Massachusetts Legislature.

His senate district included Fitchburg, Leominster, and several other communities in north-central Massachusetts.

Tran lost the State Senate seat in 2020, and he ended up running unsuccessfully for Congress in the 3rd District in 2022.

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