Former FBI agent sentenced

A former FBI agent was sentenced to 30 years in prison for planning to rob a Fountain Valley house believed to hold drugs and cash at gunpoint

New Orleans resident Vo Duong Tran, 42, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison Monday, according to the United States Attorney’s office. Tran was an FBI special agent in the Chicago division from 1992 to 2003.

His partner, Yu Sung Park, 36, of Illinois, was also sentenced to 30 years Monday.

The duo were found guilty in March of conspiracy to commit a robbery affecting interstate commerce, interstate travel to commit a crime of violence with a firearm, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and possession of a machine gun.

Tran believed the Fountain Valley house was a “drug stash house� used for drug trafficking and planned to break in at gunpoint. He organized the robbery and got his hands on guns, silencers and bulletproof vests. Park agreed to go along with the plan.

The two went to Fountain Valley in 2008 to meet with two men, who were actually an FBI agent and a citizen working with the bureau, to plan the robbery.

During the meeting, Tran told the men to shoot anyone in the house who didn’t cooperate and brought electrical zip ties to handcuff anyone inside the house.

After the meeting, the agents arrested the two and searched their hotel room. They found a machine gun, a silencer-equipped assault rifle, a .22-caliber handgun with a silencer, more than 600 rounds of ammunition, two bulletproof vests, camouflage clothing and the electrical zip ties.

The Fountain Valley house believed to be used for drug trafficking was vacant at the time.

— Britney Barnes