Corrupt ex-cop pleads guilty to charges in drug trafficking scheme

A former NYPD officer on Thursday pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his involvement in a drug trafficking scheme while serving on the force.

Andrew Nguyen, 42, was charged with bribery, narcotics trafficking conspiracy, using a firearm to further drug trafficking, fraud and robbery last fall. According to his eight-count indictment , the ex-cop took more than $30,000 in exchange for transporting drugs, including approximately eight kilograms of cocaine; providing unauthorized armed protection for a drug trafficking enterprise; and submitting false reports to the NYPD to help a co-conspirator avoid repayment of a drug-trafficking-related debt.

Nguyen entered a guilty plea to three of the indictment’s eight counts — bribery and narcotics distribution conspiracy, and a firearm charge — before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres Thursday.

He told Torres that he abused his position and access as an NYPD officer to support and protect people trafficking drugs in The Bronx and Manhattan between 2020 and 2023, including using an unsanctioned police vehicle to conduct an unsanctioned car stop to support the scheme.

“I knew what I was doing was wrong,” Nguyen, who was primarily stationed at Bronx Transit District 12, told the court. “I am deeply sorry.”

Family members of Nguyen filled the first two rows of the courtroom with tears in their eyes, passing tissues between each other throughout the proceedings. Nguyen’s attorney, Martin Bell of the firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, explained what would happen during the plea hearing and what the next steps would be before the proceeding to his relatives in the courtroom.

Nguyen will be sentenced on June 22. The maximum sentence for the crimes Nguyen pleaded guilty to is life in prison. The minimum required sentence is five years.

His plea deal, which his attorney and prosecutors, U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Rebold and Matthew King agreed to, includes a recommended sentence of 12.25 years to 14 years, though the judge is not bound to that recommendation.

Beyond the crimes Nguyen pleaded guilty to, charging papers allege wire fraud, robbery and an attempt to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute it. They also charge he considered, but ultimately decided against, carrying out a string of other actions to support the drug trafficking scheme and traffickers — including kidnapping drug dealers who owed money to a man he was conspiring with.

Nguyen was arrested on Nov. 4, 2025, and was released on a $400,000 bond on Nov. 12, 2025.

He was fired from the NYPD in December 2023 for an unrelated incident: stealing a pair of children’s Nikes that a coworker placed in his precinct’s property room.

After being kicked off the force, Nguyen worked as a public bus driver in Westchester, a job he lost during the course of the court proceedings. Since then, he has been working in the delivery industry.

Nguyen will be held in custody until he is sentenced.