Supplier of guns in deaths of firefighters gets 8 years

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A New York woman was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Wednesday for supplying guns to a former neighbor who used them to kill his sister and two firefighters in a Christmas Eve ambush that also caused seven homes to burn to the ground.

Dawn Nguyen, 25, pleaded guilty in June to three felonies, including supplying guns to a known felon. Before her sentencing, she apologized to firefighters and others in the courtroom and asked for forgiveness.

The sentence is much harsher than the eight- to 14-month prison term suggested by federal sentencing guidelines.

U.S. Magistrate David Larimer said it was justified because Nguyen knew that William Spengler, 62, had served time in prison for bludgeoning his grandmother to death with a hammer in 1981 and had said he would kill again.

“You know someone was involved in the death of their grandmother. That alone should raise not one but 100 red flags,” Larimer said in the courtroom crowded with members of the slain firefighters’ West Webster Fire Department and other first responders.

Prosecutors said Nguyen accepted $1,000 from Spengler to go with him to a Gander Mountain store in June 2010 and buy a semi-automatic rifle and pistol-grip shotgun, lying on a form that they were for her.

More than two years later, the weapons were found Dec. 24, 2012, near Spengler’s body following the ambush that killed the volunteer firefighters. Spengler committed suicide.