St. Paul man pleads guilty to online sextortion scheme targeting more than 500 girls

A St. Paul man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to carrying out over five years an online sextortion scheme that victimized at least 500 girls across the U.S. and elsewhere.

Yue Vang, 31, appeared before U.S. District Judge Eric C. Tostrud in St. Paul on two counts of production of child pornography and one count each of possession of child pornography and interstate communications with intent to extort. The judge ordered Vang to remain in detention pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

The parties disagree over how to calculate the guideline sentence, but prosecutors are seeking 72 years in prison. The two most serious charges carry mandatory minimums of 15 years in prison.

Vang was charged May 24 by felony information, a process by which a defendant agrees to waive a grand jury indictment and instead plead guilty. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed not to charge him with additional counts he pled to and also with transportation, receipt and distribution of child pornography.

According to court documents, Vang used web and social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik and Skype, to perpetuate his sextortion scheme from at least early 2015 through September 2020. Vang created fake female profiles to prey on girls he met online in order to entice and coerce them to create sexually explicit images and videos to send to him.

Vang knew the girls were under 16 years of age because their ages were posted in profiles or they told him, the charging document states.

He collected more than 1,000 child pornography images and videos on his electronic devices that showed minors between approximately 12 and 17 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to the plea agreement.

Vang threatened to disseminate sexually explicit images of them to their family members, friends and classmates unless they created and sent him additional images and videos of themselves nude or engaging in sexually explicit conduct, the document states.

Prosecutors say federal authorities have identified more than 500 girls who Vang “sextorted” during his scheme and that there are another 300 girls who are unidentified.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Minnesota is encouraging anyone who may have been a victim of Vang’s offenses or who has information about the case to go to Justice.gov/usao-mn/child-sextortion-victim-information.