Melrose firefighter stole dead man's identity, feds say

A man has been serving as a Melrose, Massachusetts, firefighter under the name of a dead man whose identity he stole, according to federal court documents.

The firefighter — who federal prosecutors are referring to as John Doe because they aren't sure of his real identity — faces charges of aggravated identity theft and making false statements while applying for a passport, according to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Massachusetts' federal district court. He was arraigned in court Thursday.

The firefighter had a Massachusetts driver's license under the name of Henry Huang and used the name to apply for a U.S. passport in March 2023, which led to a Department of State investigation — a screener found that Huang had died in 2002, according to a criminal affidavit filed by a U.S. Diplomatic Security Service investigator.

In January, the City of Melrose congratulated Melrose firefighter Henry Huang for graduating from the state fire academy, and state Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian in February shared a picture of her and Melrose firefighter Henry Huang after he received a citation for his graduation. The man attended the academy from November to January, graduating Jan. 22, under the assumed identity, according to the criminal affidavit.

The real Henry Huang died in Boston, according to the affidavit. He would have been about 13.

NBC10 Boston has reached out to the Melrose Fire Department for comment. The department is in the midst of a search for a new chief. Asked about the case, Lipper-Garabedian told NBC10 Boston she deferred to the city and prosecutors.

Melrose Mayor Jen Grigoraitis said in a statement that she was notified about a fire department employee being arrested Thursday and that they were promptly put on leave.

"As a matter of policy, the City does not comment or provide details on personnel matters," Grigoraitis said, referring further questions to federal prosecutors.

It wasn't immediately clear if the Melrose firefighter had an attorney who could comment to the allegations; there was no answer at an address listed for him Friday. He appeared in court to face the charges Thursday and was held pending a hearing on Wednesday, according to prosecutors, who said a conviction on the passport charge would carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and the identity theft would carry up to two further years in prison.

The man obtained a birth certificate and social security card for Huang in 2018, then obtained a Massachusetts driver's license and applied to be a paramedic in Fall River, according to the affidavit. Investigators found that he'd previously been accused of fraud for applying for a driver's license as Truong Nguyen, then as Huang, and that at a Registry of Motor Vehicles fraud hearing he claimed Huang was his real identity and Nguyen was his cousin's, leading to a license suspension of six months.

Nguyen may be the man's real identity, though his FBI file has two other names, with different dates of birth, according to the affidavit. Nguyen's paperwork indicates he is a legal permanent resident who came to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1979, about four years after he was born.

Nguyen was convicted of second-degree burglary in 1991 and ordered deported four years later for failing to appear for a deportation hearing, but he was not deported, according to the affidavit. In 2010, he was arrested on suspicion of stealing $46,000 from the Norwell Firefighters Union, where he was an officer.

Nguyen pleaded guilty to embezzlement and larceny in February 2011 and was ordered to pay $46,335, stay away from two casinos, attend Gamblers Anonymous and return anything in his possession that belonged to the Norwell Firefighters Union, according to the Plymouth Superior Court's docket for the case.

NBC10 Boston has reached out to Norwell's fire chief about the case there.

A Massachusetts Department of Fire Services spokesman said the agency cooperated with the federal investigation and deferred questions to prosecutors.