A former Chicago FBI agent who has a long and tortured history with the bureau has been arrested following an 18-month undercover investigation in which he was allegedly caught on tape conspiring to commit "murder-for-hire, home-invasion robberies" and other crimes, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Santa Ana.
Vo Duong Tran and an accomplice were arrested by an FBI SWAT team in the parking lot of an Orange County hotel late Monday after they flew to Los Angeles as part of a plan to rob a "narcotics stash pad" in Fountain Valley, authorities allege. Agents and local police seized assault rifles, bulletproof vests and silencers from the men's car and hotel room, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert J. Keenan.
During numerous taped conversations with an FBI informant, Tran allegedly said that he wanted to kill at least two people who owed him money from when he conducted an illegal sports betting operation.
"I want blood," the former agent allegedly said.
Tran also seemed to imply that he had killed before, according to a criminal complaint, which quoted from the purported conversation between him and the informant.
"I have to make sure it has to be done right because all my hits, they are clean," Tran allegedly said to the unidentified informant who was paid by authorities for his efforts.
Keenan said he had no evidence that Tran or his accomplice had actually carried out a robbery, much less a murder.
"The evidence shows they were going to make good on their plan out here," Keenan said. "They did a drive-by of the [location]. Their guns were fully loaded."
Tran and his alleged accomplice, Yu Sung Park, are charged with conspiring to distribute narcotics and interfering with commerce by means of threat or violence. They are in custody, pending a bail hearing set for this afternoon.
Park's attorney, Yolanda Barrera, declined comment.
Tran's attorney, Alex R. Kessel, was traveling and said he had not had the opportunity to read the government's 32-page complaint. But he said he suspected the charges were part of the FBI's "continuing vendetta against my client."
He added that he believed the FBI informant suggested how and where to commit the alleged crimes, which he called "clear evidence of potential entrapment."
Tran has had considerable past dealings with the criminal justice system, both as a federal agent and as a defendant.
