Orange County ex-NYPD officer gets 90 months in federal prison

A Harriman man who once served as a New York City police officer was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison after prosecutors said he took bribes, carried drugs, and used his badge-backed access to help a trafficking operation. Andrew Nguyen, 41, pleaded guilty Jan. 29 and was sentenced June 22 by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York.

Prosecutors said Nguyen’s conduct stretched from at least 2020 through at least November 2023. They said he accepted more than $30,000 in bribes and solicited more money while helping a drug-trafficking enterprise run by a person identified in court papers as CC-1. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nguyen transported about eight kilograms of cocaine, carried his NYPD-authorized off-duty firearm during those trips, and had his NYPD credentials and a parking placard with him so he could try to avoid arrest if stopped. The sentence also includes three years of supervised release after he leaves prison. The firearm count carried a mandatory minimum five-year consecutive sentence and a maximum of life in prison. The indictment originally included robbery charges as well.

Nguyen’s hometown gives the case a direct Orange County connection. Harriman is a small village with deep ties to the rest of the county, and the federal case now places one of its residents at the center of a corruption and narcotics prosecution that reached from New York City into the Hudson Valley. For local readers, the case is a reminder that the abuse of law-enforcement authority does not stay inside city limits when a former officer uses that access to move drugs and protect a trafficking network.

Federal officials cast the case as a breach of public trust as much as a criminal sentence. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Nguyen “repeatedly abused his position of public trust” and “endangered the very community that he swore an oath to protect.” Christopher G. Raia of the FBI and NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch both stressed that corruption inside law enforcement will not be tolerated. The sentence closes one chapter of a case that put bribery, narcotics, firearms, and the credibility of the NYPD on the same docket.