Vang denies inciting Hmong gang rape

Jeff Dankert:

Armeelia Vang denied allegations Friday that she fondled an unconscious 16-year-old girl and invited others to rape her 15 months ago at her west side Winona apartment.

Vang, 19, told a Winona County District Court jury she did not alert authorities about the rape because she feared retaliation from the men and boys, especially a 25-year-old man named Choua “Trigger” Lor, who is not charged in the incident.

“I was scared if I called the cops those guys were going to do something to me,” the St. Paul woman said.

The third day of Vang’s trial ended with her testimony; she was the 19th witness to testify this week. The trial is scheduled to resume Monday with closing arguments and jury deliberation.

Vang is accused of nine counts of felony sexual conduct.

Five Winona Senior High School students met up with Vang, the victim and Lor on Nov. 4, 2004. They walked to Vang’s apartment, where they rapped, played cards and drank, testimony showed.

After the girl passed out in a bedroom, Vang and three male students sexually assaulted her, according to the criminal complaint and testimony; one — Sue “Acorn” Hang, an 11th grade honor student — sexually assaulted her with a Blatz beer can.

A stovetop fire brought police and rescuers to the home, where they found the bleeding victim lying unconscious and wrapped in a blanket outside the smoky apartment.

The victim told the jury she remembers waking up at Mayo Clinic. Two doctors and a nurse testified Friday they had never seen injuries this severe, even in childbirth trauma.

Dr. Douglas Creedon of Mayo said without emergency care, the girl would have bled to death.

The victim’s blood-alcohol content was 0.30 percent, said nurse Debra Horsman.

Vang and the victim agree that Vang told her not to alert authorities.

Kevin Navara, a Minnesota Gang Strike Force investigator specializing in crimes involving Hmong suspects or victims, said investigators first interviewed suspects and witnesses three months after the crime.

Vang’s attorney, Karen Sonneman asked if this time lapse allowed suspects to corroborate a story incriminating her client.

“Anything’s possible,” Navara said

Navara said although the assault was not a gang crime, its circumstances are similar to Hmong gang sex crimes.

Lor testified Thursday that Vang invited the others to have sex with the girl. Lor said he declined and turned away.

Vang said that after she moved to St. Paul to live with her mother, Lor told her not to talk to police or he would kidnap her and take her to North Carolina.

The apartment manager and Lor carried the victim and Vang, who had also passed out in the apartment, outside when the fire started.

“Acorn and Trigger woke me up on the sidewalk and said ‘be quiet, don’t tell them nothing,’” Vang said.

Asked why the others accused her of inviting them to have sex with the victim, Hang said, “I don’t know, they maybe wanted to get back at me.”

She said she was frightened to testify Friday, “because I’m scared somebody’s going to shoot me.”

The victim testified that she identified boys in a Winona Senior High School yearbook for investigators.

Also present that night were Xee Thong Xiong and Stephen “Shaggy” Eldridge, she said.

Hang, Xiong and Eldridge attended Winona Senior High School and are charged with felony sex crimes.

Hang, 19, pleaded not guilty to five counts of felony sexual conduct; his trial begins April 3.

Eldridge, 18, has a hearing March 15 for the court to consider trying him as an adult, which could bring stiffer penalties. The court gave him immunity, and he testified Thursday that he had sex with the unconscious girl.

Xiong, 18, originally was charged as a juvenile but the court certified him as an adult in December. He is summoned to appear Wednesday on six counts of felony sexual conduct.

Two male students also testified Thursday. They were in the apartment that night but are not charged.

Vang’s mother, Cher Xiong, testified briefly with a Hmong interpreter, bringing her daughter to tears. When Cher Xiong returned to her seat, Vang leaned over a divider and mother and daughter clutched each other and sobbed for several minutes.

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