Driver in vehicle found carrying drugs in Arizona sentenced for perjury

PHOENIX — An Oklahoma man found guilty of perjury by a Yavapai County jury last month was sentenced to over two years in prison on Tuesday, authorities said.

Binh Phuong Nguyen, 31, who is from Oklahoma City, is already serving a 4-year prison sentence, according to the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office.

The judge decided Nguyen would serve a concurrent sentence, so even though he received a 2.25-year sentence, the perjury conviction won’t extend his prison stay.

Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane expressed frustration with the outcome.

“Although the sentence handed down will not require Nguyen to serve even an extra day in prison above the 4 years he was previously serving, the sentence was within the limits of the current law,” McGrane said in a Thursday announcement.

While the punishment was legal, he believes it was insufficient.

“Therefore, I will be working with our local legislators to fix this problem for the future to require an appropriate and fitting punishment,” McGrane said.

Why is Oklahoma man being sentenced for perjury in Arizona?

Nguyen’s sentencing dates back to a traffic stop conducted by a deputy with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office on June 20, 2023, prosecutors said.

Nguyen drove a car with 32-year-old Vinh Duong in the front passenger seat. Both men’s sons were in the back seat.

Deputies who searched the car found one kilogram of cocaine, 1,000 counterfeit Adderall pills which contained methamphetamine, and a gun in the trunk of the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Duong and Nguyen had driven 23 hours with their children from Oklahoma City to San Jose, Calif. to buy the drugs for $16,000.

The two men were on their way back to Oklahoma when sheriff’s deputies stopped them in Ash Fork, prosecutors said.

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