When then-Attorney General Maura Healey filed charges against former state senator Dean Tran for allegedly stealing a gun from an elderly constituent, Healey, a Democrat, was running for governor and Tran, a Republican, was running for Congress. Tran accused Healey, now governor, of mounting a politically motivated smear campaign, and some observers suggested Healey may have overreached.
But it became clear Thursday that the attorney general’s office is not alone in its investigation of Tran, and the state charges may not be the end of Tran’s legal woes.
Federal investigators searched Tran’s Fitchburg home on Thursday, the FBI confirmed to the Globe.
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“Earlier this morning, the FBI conducted court-authorized activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation,” FBI spokesperson Kristen Setera said Thursday. “To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, we are going to decline further comment at this time.”
Fitchburg police Captain Christopher Garcia said although his department was involved in the activity, the case is a federal one. “We were present this morning, but we have no involvement with the investigation,” Garcia said. He referred further questions to the FBI.
It is not clear what the federal investigators were looking for or whether there is any connection between the federal investigation and the state charges. Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office declined to comment.
Tran could not be reached on Thursday. Joseph Rogers, one of Tran’s attorneys representing him in state court, said his office was aware that federal investigators visited Tran’s home and executed a search warrant. “Beyond that, we do not have enough information at this time to responsibly comment,” Rogers said.
The criminal case against Tran in Worcester Superior Court is ongoing. That case centered on charges that Tran used his position as an elected official to intimidate an elderly constituent into selling him her late husband’s guns. When he was asked to return them, he did, but he allegedly returned to the woman’s home the next morning, demanded keys to the gun safe, and stole a Colt .45 while the woman hid in her bedroom. That gun was returned to her yard months later with an anonymous letter.
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Discovery is wrapping up in that case and includes witness interviews, an analysis of Tran’s cellphone, and DNA analysis of materials found on the firearm, according to documents filed in Worcester Superior Court.
A federal judge dismissed Tran’s civil lawsuit, in which Tran attempted to get the criminal case postponed and Healey prohibited from participating based on his allegations that the charges were politically motivated.
Even before his legal troubles, Tran was stripped of his leadership position in the state Senate after the Senate Committee on Ethics said he used his taxpayer-funded Senate staff for campaign and fund-raising work. He lost his reelection bid in 2020.
In 2022, Tran went up against US Representative Lori Trahan for her Third Congressional District seat; he lost with 36 percent of the vote.
Tran established a legal defense fund in 2020 that raised $23,000 and remains active, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
It looks like he’s going to need it — and the federal interest in Tran suggests Healey’s investigation was more than the partisan smear Tran claimed it was.
Shira Schoenberg can be reached at shira.schoenberg@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shiraschoenberg.
