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The pharmacist in the well-publicized Mississippi supposed “pill mill” case was acquitted on 43 counts while another 11 counts resulted in a mistrial, with the jury unable to agree on a verdict, reports the Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald here.

The case - which began with a big bang where local TV station WLOX was invited to film, live, the very public arrest of two Viet doctors and a Viet pharmacist - fizzled out when the jury even declined to vote guilty on the conspiracy count against the only defendant who hasn’t pleaded, pharmacist Nick Tran.

The colossal criminal case started with 22 counts and then was amended to expand to 60 counts. The defendants are: two physicians, husband-and-wife Dr. Thomas Trieu and Dr. Victoria Van; Dr. Trieu’s brother Richard who’s their office manager; and Tran who owned the pharmacy next door and filled the prescriptions written by the two doctors.

The government initially tried to have the defendants held without bail. The accused, however, fought back, claiming innocence. After 72 straight days in custody, the defendants won bail. Read here and here.

After the jury verdict, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Meynardie said he was disappointed and claimed the jury found Tran not guilty on “the weakest counts,” which he said applied more to doctors charged in the case, according to the Sun Herald.

“That can happen when you let someone who is more culpable plead guilty,” Meynardie said — totally ignoring the fact that it’s almost certainly him who’s the one agreeing to the pleas.

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Two Vietnamese men were arrested in the Florida Keys after a Super Bowl party fight in which one man grabbed the other’s testicles, “puncturing them with his fingers,” says the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office here.

The fight occurred late at night, long after the Super Bowl was over. By then, it was already 2a.m. the next day Feb. 8.

Y Le (top mugshot), a 27-year-old technician living at the house in Sugarloaf Key, was getting tired so he told everyone to leave.

Vinh Pham (bottom mugshot), 43, however, didn’t want to. The man, a bartender by trade, was playing cards and apparently having a, well, ball.

Le insisted, Pham refused. One thing led to another and the two started fighting. At some point, Le allegedly hit Pham with a beer bottle and cut him in the face. Then Pham punched Le, dislocating his jaw.

And then at another point Pham had Le in a chokehold. So Le grabbed Pham’s testicles and, allegedly, ahem, poked holes in them.

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Former candidate and now federal criminal defendant Tan Nguyen is jumping in and making a splash in an already colorful contest for the Republican nomination to face incumbent Democrat Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in the 47th Congressional district.

Nguyen is scheduled to go to trial on May 3 on charges of lying to investigators. But, hey, he’s innocent until proven guilty, so he’ll take his shot at Congress thank you very much.

In announcing his candidacy, Nguyen sent out a bilingual press release to Viet media. The press release (uploaded here) was sent out just like that. It is written in the first person, but doesn’t carry a signature. It doesn’t have a letterhead or address or phone number, just the typed words in Vietnamese “Campaign offices of Tan Nguyen.”

Already running in the Republican primary are California Assemblyman Van Tran and former U.S. Marine officer Quang X. Pham.

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A Viet man in Westminster was arrested and held for mental evaluation for locking out his mother from their shared apartment and barricading himself with a large knife, says the Westminster Police Department in a press release here.

Paul Duc Vu, 35, who lives in the apartment complex at 9601 Madison Circle near the corner of Bolsa and Bushard, barricaded himself in the apartment for 3 hours.

Police said they could clearly see Vu holding a large butcher-style knife. Using English and Vietnamese, they tried to convince him to come outside and to put the knife down.

That didn’t work.

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A Vietnamese woman in Westminster chased her boyfriend around his apartment complex with a knife, then barricaded herself in an apartment until SWAT shot and arrested her, reports the OC Register here.

It took almost half a day for the police to take down Shelly Lyn Doan, 48, of Westminster.

The manager of the Cinnamon Creek apartments (pictured; located smack dab in the middle of Little Saigon at the corner of Brookhurst and Bishop) called police at 2pm to report a woman armed with a kitchen knife chasing a man.

She then ran into his apartment and shut the door.

Cops went to the apartment and saw the woman, but couldn’t get her to come out.

So the police brought in the big guns. West County SWAT, a joint team of officers from Westminster and nearby cities, was called in. Hostage negotiators came as well, but they couldn’t get the woman to come out either.

Several times, Doan came to the window with the knife and waved it around, according to SWAT members.

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A Viet coach at a Sacramento Catholic school who allegedly engaged in “inappropriate sexual conduct” with a 17-year-old student has been charged with one misdemeanor count of “child annoyance,” says the Orange County D.A.’s office in a press release here.

Minh Anh Nguyen, 36, a volleyball coach at Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, is accused of “exposing a 17-year-old female player’s vagina and breasts by moving her clothing while massaging her.”

At the time of the incident, Nguyen (pictured) was taking the girls’ varsity volleyball team to Orange County for a high school championship game to be played at UC Irvine. The team was staying at the Embassy Suites in Santa Ana.

According to the DA’s allegations, at approximately 10:20 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2009, Nguyen went to the student’s room “the pretense of giving her an athletic massage.” Nguyen told the student to lie on the floor and knelt over her with his knees behind her head.

He is accused of leaning over the girl to rub her hips and in the process his pants in the area of his private parts hit the student’s forehead. Both were clothed.

As Nguyen kneeled over the girl, he is further accused of pushing her sweatpants and underwear down, exposing her vagina. Then he allegedly lifted her bra and exposed her breasts.

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Several Viet businesses in the Spokane area were fronts for a multimillion dollar drug ring busted by federal agents, reports the Seattle Times here and the Spokane-Review here.

And they would have continued their marijuana trafficking, if it weren’t for a single-vehicle crash that brought the ring, already under suspicion, to the fore.

At the center is Luyen V. “John” Doan, who’s been held in Spokane County Jail since February. Last week, Doan pleaded guilty to federal drug and investment charges and will give up more than 15 properties in Stevens, Spokane and Kootenai counties, including a home on Diamond Lake, a boat and a 2007 Mercedes-Benz.

He’s not the only one. Of the 30 people charged in the case, 18 have pleaded guilty and will cooperate in federal trials of the others. The Seattle Times reports:

“Federal prosecutors say Doan, 43, headed a drug operation that distributed thousands of pounds of marijuana throughout Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana.

“As his wealth accumulated, documents allege, Doan removed himself from the drug ring, employing dealers through businesses he owned or invested in, such as Lefty’s Steakhouse and Sports, the Teriyaki House, and Trick Shot Dixie Outlaw Saloon and BBQ [pictured].”

Doan himself is listed as an employee of Lefty’s Steakhouse and Sports.

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A San Jose Viet homeless man was arraigned today on murder and arson charges stemming from the killing two weeks ago of a fellow Viet homeless man, reports KTVU here.

Quyen Nguyen, 41, is charged in Santa Clara Superior Court with one count of murder and one count of arson causing great bodily injury in connection with the death of 39-year-old Phuong Giang.

The police believe Giang was burned to death while sleeping in an encampment in a parking lot at 1692 Tully Road around 12:15 a.m. on Dec. 20.

Both Nguyen and Giang were transients living in makeshift encampments in the area of Tully Road and Alvin Avenue in San Jose.

The area is heavily Vietnamese, Lion Plaza is across the street, and many Vietnamese homeless people congregate there.

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A 42-year-old Viet alleged gangster is among three people charged with murder in the death of a Vietnamese-American man who had witnessed a prior shooting, resulting in the conviction of this defendant’s brother, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here.

Quy D. Nguyen, 42, of Seattle is facing multiple charges in the January 2007 killing of Hoang Nguyen. Also charged is another Viet, Le Nhu Le, 41, of Kent, Washington; as well as Jerry H. Thomas III, 23, of Algona.

Hoang Nguyen was shot outside his apartment complex in what investigators believe was a revenge-murder plot masterminded by Quy Nguyen.

Although he’s 42 years old, Quy Nguyen is believed to be the leader of the Young Seattle Boyz street gang. Quy Nguyen is also believed to be a drug lord, paying people to run houses where he grows marijuana.

Hoang Nguyen had been a witness in a double shooting in Seattle in July 2006. Quy Nguyen’s brother Diem Nguyen was convicted in the shooting and sentenced to nearly 40 years.

Investigators said a gunman approached Hoang Nguyen and his wife as they were getting out of their car. The gunman asked Hoang Nguyen to put the coffee cup he was holding on the ground. As he did so, the gunman shot him in the back of the head, the victim’s wife told detectives.

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A Vietnamese man was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after he allegedly slammed his minivan into, yep, a police cruiser.

Trang Nguyen, 52, was in jail for two days before he was released early morning on Sunday on bond, Los Angeles Sheriff Department’s records show.

The crash occured about 7:30pm Friday, according to the Pasadena Star-News here.

A sheriff’s deputy, driving a patrol car, was driving northbound on San Gabriel Boulevard in San Gabriel, while Nguyen was approaching from the opposite direction on the same street.

At the corner of Chestnut, Nguyen allegedly did not yield the right of way to the patrol car, cut left in front of the incoming cop car, and allegedly caused a crash.

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