MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A St. Paul, Minn. man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday, after pleaded guilty to four counts related to his role in the gang rape of a teen girl.
Mang Yang was given a steeper sentence after the judge noted the heinous nature of the crime and impact to the victim and community.
“We are pleased with the jury’s verdict, which sends an important message to a bright and beautiful girl who is making progress from being a victim of a brutal gang rape to a survivor, her family and to other girls and women who have been sexually assaulted,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said. “This community will hold those who perpetrate acts of sexual violence accountable for their crimes and we stand and support victims of sexual assault.”
Yang, along with eight other member of the True Blood 22 gang, conspired to intoxicate a 14-year-old girl at a house party at an abandoned home on the 200 block of White Bear Avenue North. The incident occurred on Nov. 17, 2011.
When the girl attempted to leave the party, she was pulled from a vehicle and carried into a bedroom in the house.
Investigators say the gang rape only ended when a lookout, who was stationed in the kitchen, told the attackers that police had been called.
Four juvenile members of the gang held her down as Yang and four other older members took turns raping her. Those four adult men, who range in age from 18 to 37, were also charged alongside Yang: Vang Tou Ger Vue, 19, Kong Meng Vang, 37, Michell Teng Vang, 23, and Vanchai Xiong, 18.
Ramsey County prosecutors also filed charges against four juvenile males, with the intent to try them as adults. They are identified as Shaileng Shong Lor, 17, Jim Her, 17, Xou Yang, 16 and a fourth juvenile who is only 15. His name is not being released.
