Prosecutors have accused a St. Paul man of breaking into a La Crosse apartment armed with knives and a gun, raping and beating a woman, and threatening to kill her.
According to a criminal complaint, the woman met Richard Vang about five months earlier through a “conference call.” She told police Vang, 44, visited her South Side home about once a week but then began showing up uninvited and admitted to making himself a copy of her key.
The woman took the key and told him not to come without permission.
She told police she was alone in the residence when she awoke around midnight Tuesday to find Vang in her apartment with a “long gun” and two knives. Vang cut off her dress and held a knife between her legs, telling her he would “make her feel real good.”
During the night, Vang threatened to kill the woman, raped her, punched her in the face, kicked her in the shins and strangled her until she lost consciousness, according to the complaint.
The woman said she escaped when Vang used her telephone to call his employer. She ran barefoot to a nearby convenience store, where workers called police.
She was bleeding from her face, neck and hands, and had bruises on her face and legs, according to the complaint. She also had cuts on her throat that she said Vang inflicted with the knife.
Police found Vang inside the apartment, where they also confiscated a rifle and two bloody knives.
Vang was charged Friday in La Crosse County Circuit Court with first-degree sexual assault, armed burglary, false imprisonment, and strangulation and suffocation. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of 60 years.
He remains jailed with a $50,000 cash bond. He is scheduled to return to court Friday for a preliminary hearing.