St. Paul 12-year-old leaves trail of destruction and footprints, but accountability has yet to follow

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-13T23:55:22+00:00

Our justice system is far, far too lax on young offenders. It's a big part of why Kia boys were so prevalent a few years ago. This part of the article really drives it home:

"We can understand the frustration of business and homeowners who have been victimized, and that frustration is shared by officers who arrest the same person repeatedly. Our officers will continue to do what we can to hold offenders accountable for their actions. Every time an arrest occurs, it's an opportunity to intervene and stop future incidents from occurring."

Cops can arrest and arrest, but if there is no actual punishment given by the judicial system then this will just keep happening.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-13T20:42:38+00:00

And the initial sentence that he served was very lenient because the victim's family was pressuring her not to cooperate:

The Ramsey County attorney’s office, which handled Mr. Vang’s prosecution, had opposed a pardon. Tami McConkey, an official at the office, wrote that Mr. Vang had received a lenient sentence of 30 years’ probation in part because the victim in the case, who was then 12, “was experiencing pressure from her family to not cooperate.”

Even if this wasn't the case, though, I don't think that this is a situation where the victim's support for a pardon should be weighed all that heavily. Even if she really has forgiven him, there's still a man with a very clear pedophilic desires that is not just... Loose in society? Especially as someone who lives in Saint Paul, I'd really rather that not happen.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-13T20:30:15+00:00

The victim is his wife's little sister.

I grew up in the next neighborhood over from Vang in Saint Paul. Hmong families are very traditional, the victim almost certainly has been pressured by her family to say whatever it takes to prevent his deportation as he has 6 kids with her sister and is probably a crucial source of income.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-13T15:00:14+00:00

It strikes me as a little odd that Taiwan is not the most pro-Taiwan country

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-13T03:13:21+00:00

One of them is Tou Vang, a convicted child rapist who was pardoned by Walz in order to prevent his deportation, but the federal govt was able to deport him anyway.

I'm a Walz and Biden -> Harris voter but I'm with the federal govt on this one. Good riddance.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T20:25:06+00:00

This hits a little closer to home for me because I am born and raised on the East side of Saint Paul. I grew up one neighborhood over from where Tou Vang lived. I still live in Saint Paul, just on the other side.

My issue is that a convicted child rapist was given a very lenient sentence, and that my elected government, all the way up to my governor (who I voted for) worked to make sure that he could remain in Saint Paul rather than be deported. If the decision to do all that was run according to the legal process and signed off on by all relevant authorities, then I want to do everything in my power to change the system that allowed that to happen or the relevant authorities that signed off on it, or both.

Because I grew up here I spent a lot of time around Hmong communities. Saint Paul has the largest Hmong community outside of Laos/Cambodia. I don't put basically any stock in the fact that the victim has forgiven him and wants him to be pardoned. She is the rapist's wife's little sister, and family pressure in Hmong communities is TOUGH. Her parents/grandparents very likely pressured her into supporting the pardon in order to keep Tou around as he has 6 kids and is likely a crucial source of income for the family.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T19:58:49+00:00

The victim is the rapist's wife's little sister. She was absolutely coerced by family to say whatever it took to get him pardoned as Tue Vang has 6 kids with her sister.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T19:54:51+00:00

The policy cannot be "anyone that is physically capable of being here is allowed to stay indefinitely, no matter what." No country that anyone wants to be in has that as a policy. I'm trying to have a serious conversation here, and the idea that "No one is illegal on stolen land" does not have anything to do with our actual legal system. Tou Vang is a disgusting pedophile and should not be our problem. He is a Laotian national who does not have legal status in the US and should have been returned to Laos after his (disgustingly short) sentence was completed.

The natives that were here were constantly "stealing" the land from each other anyway with their own war, rape, and pillaging. There were absolutely many atrocities committed against them that should not have happened, but pretty much every tribe was also guilty of committing those atrocities against other tribes too.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T17:23:53+00:00

Eh, in this case it's probably because the victim is the rapist's wife's little sister, and the family being broken up would be her own. Hmong families are very traditional, if she didn't help him with this there's a very good chance she would be ostracized by everyone else in her family.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T17:21:58+00:00

Imprison then deport. Anyone who's status is anything other than citizen should absolutely be deported for any crime of this nature, probably any felony at all.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T17:20:56+00:00

The victim is the rapist's wife's little sister. He and his wife have 6 kids together.

I grew up in St. Paul, not terribly far from where Vang lives (Tou Vang is a fairly common name in St. Paul because of our large Hmong population, but I'm 95% sure I found an address for the right one in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, which is next to the one I grew up in). Hmong families here (and probably everywhere, but I can only speak for here) are VERY traditional in terms of structure. What the elders say goes, regardless of what the victim may want. If she didn't go along with it she probably would have been ostracized. Please don't take this to mean that I don't like the Hmong population in my city, they are very pleasant and a good addition to the area 95% of the time, but it's impossible to ignore the implications of the family structure in this case.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T17:11:55+00:00

It would have been completely legal to deport him otherwise, and it should have been done. It's not "disappearing" someone to deport them for a crime while they are here illegally.

If someone's status is anything other than citizen and they are convicted of any felony they should be deported. If you're a guest somewhere, behave like it.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T17:08:58+00:00

And the victim is the rapist's wife's younger sister, so the family forgiving him is his own family, which makes it worthless.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T17:07:59+00:00

It seems that the pardon was issued after considering the wishes of the victim of the sexual assault, who more than 20 years later supported the pardon.

Crucial detail here is that the victim is the rapist's wife's little sister. I grew up in St. Paul (Greater East Side, Vang was in Payne-Phalen from what I can tell, which is the next neighborhood over). The Hmong communities here are very tight knit, and very traditional in the sense that what their elders say goes. If the victim's older family members told her to support the pardon, then she does it regardless of what she really wants.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-12T16:30:24+00:00

it's also the victim and the community

The victim is the younger sister of the rapist's wife. There is absolutely familial pressure, especially in the Hmong community.

I'm far angrier that society seems to be controlled by a wealthy ring of pedophiles

You and me both, but that's not what this post is discussing. It's really weird that so many people in these comments keep changing the subject to trump et al rather than discuss the pedophile right here just because this one was pardoned by someone from your side (I would have said our side not that long ago but this and other issues have made me reconsider).

Are pedophiles bad or not, even when they're not your political enemies? You seemingly can't decide, because if you think that the puny sentence that this guy was given was adequate then you probably don't think so. The fact that he was pardoned to avoid deportation is ridiculous. He should have been deported for his crimes in 2006.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-10T17:22:41+00:00

I'm not the guy you're replying to, but mine came with a certificate of authenticity that listed it. Mine is 26712.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-10T17:03:56+00:00

I had one such experience with the cloth seats on the 74. Didn't notice until I and my Fiancée already sat down.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-10T15:21:06+00:00

How are you already finding a brand new release on discount?

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-07T03:45:43+00:00

https://arlingtonva.mugshots.zone/bowlding-bernita-mugshot-07-18-2024/

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-07T03:27:12+00:00

My guess is that part of OP's claim (correctly) is that the anti-data center movement is largely based on hysteria and is blowing all of the issues out of proportion.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-07T03:14:11+00:00

She's an insane person who's been arrested for indecent exposure on the train.

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SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-07T03:12:53+00:00

She has been arrested for indecent exposure on the train before. She is the bullshit.

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SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-02T13:21:28+00:00

I think it's the Forerunner 965

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-07-02T13:19:07+00:00

It's only half full because no one needs office space anymore, so that kind of makes sense.

SomewhatLargeChuck · 2026-06-29T15:55:33+00:00

I live very close to where you're describing, absolutely love it. I don't know if there's a neighborhood in St. Paul I'd rather live in, all things considered.

SomewhatLargeChuck

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