Ex-FBI agent arrested in plot to rob Orange County 'narcotics stash pad'
A former FBI agent who was fired from the bureau five years ago has been arrested in connection with an alleged scheme to rob a "narcotics stash pad" in Orange County, according to court documents and federal authorities.
The arrest capped an 18-month undercover operation in which authorities said Vo Duong Tran was secretly recorded talking about wanting to kill at least two people who owed him money from an illegal sports betting operation he ran.
"I want blood," Tran is heard saying on a tape recording made by a confidential informant working for the FBI.
Tran and the informant discussed several crimes, including "murder-for-hire, home-invasion robberies, and various financial fraudulent schemes" according to an arrest affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
Tran was fired from the FBI's Chicago field office in 2003, federal authorities said. Tran is charged with conspiring to distribute narcotics and interfering with commerce by means of threat or violence.
An FBI SWAT team arrested Tran and an accomplice in Orange County late Monday after they traveled from Louisiana to Southern California to commit the crimes, authorities said.
scott.glover@latimes.com
