St. Paul Man, 31, Targeted Over 1K Girls In 'Sextortion' Scheme: Feds

MINNEAPOLIS — A St. Paul man was sentenced Wednesday to 43 years in prison after he was convicted in a "sextortion" scheme that involved more than 1,100 minor girls, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.

Yue Vang, 31, was also given lifetime term of supervised release.

Vang pleaded guilty on June 2 to two counts of production of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of interstate communications with intent to extort.

"Using popular social media apps to prey on his victims, Vang’s manipulation began with compliments and expressions of flattery, which quickly turned into threats and extortion," Luger said in a news release.

"Today’s 40-year prison sentence shows that the reprehensible crime of child sexual exploitation will not be tolerated."

For at least five years, Vang used various social media services — including Kik, Snapchat, and Skype — to communicate with minor girls in Minnesota and across the world, according to authorities.

Vang pretended to be a woman online in order to prey on vulnerable minor girls and coerce them to create sexually explicit images and videos to send to him, investigators said.

Vang also threatened to send sexually explicit images of the minor victims to their family members, friends, and classmates, unless they met his demands, according to authorities.

In June 2016, Vang threatened a 15-year-old girl that he would distribute sexually explicit pictures of her to her classmates and parents and "ruin her life" unless she sent him more sexually explicit images and videos, investigators said.

To date, at least 1,100 minor females have been identified, although law enforcement is attempting to confirm the identity of many other victims.

"There are few crimes as damaging and traumatic to a young person as sextortion," said Minneapolis-based FBI agent Michael Paul.

"Vang is a predator who targeted innocent and impressionable young girls, exploiting their innocence for pictures and videos. He robbed them of their childhood and forever altered their lives and the lives of their families."