Federal prosecutors are accusing a former Massachusetts state senator of fraudulently collecting over $30,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits and other charges. Dean Tran, of Fitchburg, has been indicted on 25 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns. He pleaded not guilty in federal court on Friday afternoon. Tran served as a Republican state senator representing Worcester and Middlesex from 2017 to January of 2021. Prosecutors allege that he fraudulently applied for pandemic unemployment benefits after he had already accepted employment as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based automotive parts company. That was after he ended his term in the state Senate. Phone and email messages left with Tran's lawyer were not immediately returned.
