Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane announced that on June 10, 2025, Binh Phuong Nguyen, 31, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was sentenced for his conviction of Perjury. Nguyen was found guilty of Perjury by a Yavapai County Jury on May 21, 2025. County Attorney McGrane commended the Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking task force and the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office for an excellent investigation and thanked the jury for their careful attention to the facts. McGrane also commended prosecutor Matthew Polk for his hard work in preparing the case for trial.
Nguyen was sentenced by the Honorable Debra R. Phelan of the Yavapai County Superior Court. Nguyen faced a prison range of between 2.25 and 6 years in prison, and the Court had discretion to order the sentence be concurrent or consecutive to the 4 years Nguyen is already serving. Judge Phelan sentenced Nguyen to the mitigated term of 2.25 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, which Judge Phelan ordered to run concurrently with Nguyen’s original prison sentence.
County Attorney Dennis McGrane stated “I view perjury as an affront to our criminal justice system. It should be treated with the utmost seriousness, and it should be punished accordingly. 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. Therefore, I will be working with our local legislators to fix this problem for the future to require an appropriate and fitting punishment.”
The case began on June 20, 2023, when a Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Deputy with the Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking task force pulled over a car driven by Nguyen for routine traffic violations outside of Ash Fork, AZ. The car’s registered owner, Vinh Duong, 32, of Edmond, OK, was in the front seat. In the back seat were Nguyen’s 8-year-old son and Duong’s 7-year-old son. Deputies ultimately searched the car and found one kilogram of cocaine, 1,000 counterfeit Adderall pills which contained methamphetamine, and a gun in the trunk of the vehicle. Further investigation revealed that Duong and Nguyen, along with their children, had driven the 23 hours from Oklahoma City, OK, to San Jose, CA, to buy the drugs for $16,000. They had then turned around to drive straight back to Oklahoma City before ultimately being stopped in Ash Fork.
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Nguyen pled guilty in the trafficking case pursuant to a plea agreement on November 7, 2023, to Attempted Sale or Transportation of Narcotic Drugs, Child Abuse, Misconduct Involving Weapons (possession of a weapon during a drug offense), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Nguyen was sentenced on December 4, 2023, to four years in the Arizona State Prison.
Duong was tried in a jury trial starting on July 31, 2024. During the trial, Nguyen testified that Duong was simply along for a Father’s Day vacation with his son and was not part of the drug deal. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on Duong’s guilt and a mistrial was declared based on the hung jury.
Before a retrial, an analysis of Nguyen’s and Duong’s cell phones found additional incriminating evidence demonstrating Duong had been the actual purchaser of the drugs. Duong was tried a second time and found guilty by a jury on November 1, 2024. Duong was sentenced to seven calendar years in the Arizona State Prison.
Then, on May 21, 2025, at a separate trial, Nguyen was convicted of Perjury for making false sworn statements under oath during Duong’s first trial.
Under Arizona’s Truth in Sentencing laws, Nguyen was eligible for early release with good behavior for the Attempted Sale or Transportation of Narcotic Drugs case as early as November 24, 2026. Under those same laws, Nguyen could be eligible for early release with good behavior for the new Perjury conviction as early as November 10, 2026.
