In late January of this year, the government of Melrose, Massachusetts, celebrated the inauguration of the new firefighter Henry Huang on social media. Little did people know at the time that this name and identity seemed to belong to someone who had passed away back in 2002.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced on May 24th that an unidentified individual, who had previously been deported from the United States, was recently arrested for allegedly impersonating another person and deceiving U.S. government agencies.
The individual, referred to as “John Doe” by prosecutors, resides in Quincy, with an unknown age. The prosecution alleges that this person assumed the identity of the deceased brother, Henry Huang, not only obtaining a social security card and a Massachusetts driver’s license but also graduating from a local fire academy and joining the Melrose Fire Department.
In March 2023, the suspect attempted to apply for a U.S. passport using the identity of “Henry Huang.” However, Huang’s mother had already applied for a passport for him back in 1989. Consequently, the U.S. government did not issue a passport to the suspect, and federal investigators began monitoring him at that time.
Through facial recognition technology, investigators discovered that Doe also possessed a Massachusetts driver’s license under the name “Truong Nguyen.” The charges stated, “This may be Doe’s true identity.”
The person named “Truong Nguyen” arrived in the United States from Vietnam in 1979 as a permanent resident. In 1991, he was ordered to be deported for second-degree theft but remained in the U.S. and was arrested again in 2010 for allegedly embezzling over $46,000 while serving as an officer of the Norwell Firefighters Union.
The court documents mention that after Doe obtained a Massachusetts driver’s license under the name “Henry Huang,” the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) suspected fraud in 2018 and held a hearing. Through facial recognition technology, the RMV discovered that the suspect had obtained licenses under two different names, “Henry Huang” and “Truong Nguyen.”
During that hearing, Doe claimed that “Henry Huang” was his true identity, and “Truong Nguyen” was the name of his deceased brother.
Now, federal prosecutors have charged him with two counts: applying for a passport with false information and aggravated identity theft. The offense of applying for a passport with false information carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while aggravated identity theft carries a minimum sentence of 2 years in prison, additional penalties, and a maximum fine of $250,000.