MOBILE, AL – A federal jury convicted an Irvington man this week of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute it.
According to court documents and evidence presented at a two-day trial, Vincent Vo Tran, 26, was arrested in May 2021 after one of his coconspirators led sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase that ended at Tran’s trailer on Two Mile Court in Irvington. During a search of the trailer, deputies recovered, among other things, a cache of guns and ammunition, including a Draco AK-style pistol found sitting underneath a digital scale covered in methamphetamine residue. Deputies arrested Tran on various state charges relating to drugs and stolen property found at his trailer. The jury reviewed recorded calls and emails that Tran later sent from Mobile County Metro Jail in which he admitted, among other things, that (i) the guns seized from his trailer were his; (ii) he had hidden evidence before deputies searched his trailer; and (iii) he possessed “dope” inside the jail.
Tran was released from jail after pleading guilty to several felony charges in September 2021. Later, in November 2021, sheriff’s deputies executed another search warrant at a house that Tran shared with his girlfriend and coconspirator on Azalea Road in Mobile. While making entry into the house, deputies heard Tran running through the backyard into a wooded area but were unable to capture him. Tran’s girlfriend also attempted to run out of the back of the house, but deputies stopped her and ordered her back into the living room. Two young children were also inside the house.
Deputies then searched the house and found large amounts of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Inside an unlocked ottoman in the living room, deputies recovered eight separate baggies containing a total of more than half a pound of 99.2% pure methamphetamine. Near the drugs, deputies found a CashApp debit card and a casino player’s card issued in Tran’s name. Deputies also seized, among other things, more than 15 pounds of vacuum sealed marijuana, 3.5 grams cocaine, bags of THC-infused gummies stuffed inside a children’s playpen, and Tran’s cell phone. The jury reviewed evidence of drug distribution extracted from Tran’s phone, including text messages, drug ledgers, and photos and videos of drugs taken with the phone.
Deputies ultimately arrested Tran a week later, after he again attempted to flee from the house on Azalea Road. This time, however, a tracking canine apprehended Tran after he refused several verbal commands to stop running. Following a brief struggle, deputies handcuffed Tran and found a baggie in his shirt pocket containing 5.7 grams of 96.8% pure methamphetamine. Tran admitted in a post-Miranda interview that he had recently been buying ounces of methamphetamine and named his supplier.
Tran’s crimes carry potential sentences of ten years to life in prison. He will be sentenced by United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose in August 2022.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Roller and Lawrence Bullard are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
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