We believe but are not certain this Hoang is the suspect.

We believe but are not certain this mugshot is the suspect, Kenneth A. Hoang, from a previous arrest.

We’re normally all for guys buying guns, but Daniel Terrill at Guns.com reports that Ken Hoang did it wrong. How? According to charges in US District Court in Texas, by using OPM — Other People’s Money. Without OPP — Other People’s Permission. Namely, he lightfingered the guns by using a credit card from a previous job, from which some boss had fired him in a rare act of business precognition.

Kenneth A. Hoang has been charged with six counts of wire fraud for using the company American Express Company card to buy more than $23,400 on guns, among other things, according to the indictment filed in a Texas federal court on Dec. 11.

TurboCare, Inc., a subsidiary of the engineering company Siemens AG, employed Hoang and issued Hoang the credit card for business expenses, but failed to retrieve the card after firing him in August 2012 for insubordination and missing work.

via Texas man indicted for spending thousands on guns with company credit card.

Hoangs-Purchased-guns-lgA list of firearms from the court case shows that Hoang had some strong preferences, for name-brand .45 caliber pistols (Para, Kimber, Glock, Sig, etc) and high-end ARs (he bought an HK, a Colt, and three Noveskes, among others).

We guess, if you’re spending OPM, you don’t have any incentive to economize.

But the firearms were less than 10% of what Hoang is alleged to have charged on his card during his wild spree. They were worth about $24,000 but he charged over $330k.

An FBI presser has more details:

According to the charges, Hoang was employed by TurboCare Inc., a subsidiary of Siemens AG until he was terminated in August 2012. While employed there, TurboCare had issued Hoang an American Express card to use for business purposes, according to the indictment. Following his termination, Hoang allegedly did not return the card and illegally used it to make purchases for personal use.

The indictment alleges that beginning on or about July 10, 2013, Hoang used the credit card make numerous purchases totaling more than $330,000 before Siemens discovered the fraud and cut off the card. Included in the purchases Hoang allegedly made with the card were 17 firearms.

If convicted, Hoang faces a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment and a possible $250,000 fine on each count.

Hoang does have a previous arrest record, for financial-related crime. We believe this mugshot is him, from this previous arrest. We will remove it if we turn out to be mistaken.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by Hognose.

About Hognose

Former Special Forces 11B2S, later 18B, weapons man. (Also served in intelligence and operations jobs in SF).

4 thoughts on “Gun Buying: How to Do it Wrong

Jim Scrummy

That is a nice collection. Hmmm, I’m thinking Mr. Hoang is going to get 10 in a plea deal. This is not going to trial.

Y.

This is pretty funny. This guy defrauds $330K from his previous employer. If convicted faces up to 20 years in jail.

HSBC laundered billions in narco drug money. DoJ makes them pay five weeks worth of profit, as a fine.

Some people are just more equal, I guess..

Stefan van der Borght

The big leagues are very exclusive. My former boss just spent his second Christmas in the klink for embezzling a meazly 3.7mil. Mind you, he could not have done it alone, so I guess his accomplice/s turned on him; no honour among thieves and all that. Hopefully the prosecutors weed out all the rotten apples. Lessons learned: when stashing the loot don’t send it to Cyprus, don’t hang about as if nothing happened once the moulah is gone, don’t trust criminals, and if you want to get rich and immune go public sector.

Jorge

“They were worth about $24,000 but he charged over $330k.”

No surprise there, HK mags are expensive.