A Minnesota man was charged with kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct and other offenses after police said he abducted a dental office employee, who he allegedly sexually assaulted and threatened to kill.
Pao Yang was identified as an office cleaner at the dental clinic in Roseville, a Minneapolis suburb, according to police, per KSTP-TV.
A criminal complaint filed Monday, September 28, charges Yang, 41, with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of kidnapping, first-degree aggravated robbery and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
According to the filing, the 27-year-old woman was confronted by an armed man, later identified as Yang, wearing a black mask and gloves. Yang then allegedly pointed a gun at her and said he needed to take her car.
Afterward, Yang took her into the nearby woods and forced her to sit on the ground before wrapping tape around her head to cover her eyes and mouth, according to the complaint.
He also “zip-tied her hands behind her back to a tree,” the document states.
He also bound her feet, took her phone and other belongings before covering her in branches, according to the complaint.
Yang allegedly warned her not to scream and threatened to kill her if she did so.
He then said three men “were going to come and get her in 15-20 minutes,” then left, according to the complaint.
When Yang returned, he allegedly drove her to what she thought was a warehouse, where he bound her again and sexually assaulted her, the filing states.
Afterward, Yang was accused of taking the woman to another location “where he made her undress and shower” before dressing her in a brown dress that appeared to be new, according to the complaint.
Investigators later learned Yang had bought the dress from Target, based on a review of surveillance footage.
After dressing the woman, Yang started to drive her around with the tape covering her face and mouth, the complaint states. He allegedly then put headphones on her ears and a plastic bag on her head.
At some point, the filing states Yang pulled the tape off her head and started cutting her hair.
He repeatedly told the woman “that he liked killing women,” and “claimed that he had killed women in Morocco,” according to the complaint.
Yang ultimately let the women go near the Phalen Golf Course in St. Paul, the filing states.
The woman went to a gas station, where bystanders alerted officers after seeing “binding marks” on her wrists, according to the complaint.
A subsequent investigation involving a review of surveillance footage at the Target store in Blaine identified Yang as the suspect, according to police. Dental office staff later identified him as the cleaner for their building. He was arrested on September 25.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had retained legal counsel.
“Officers and detectives have worked around the clock to follow leads, review evidence and surveillance video, conduct interviews, and identify and locate the suspect,” police said in a news release. “Additional patrols were also deployed in the area while the investigation was underway.”
Yang had his initial court appearance on Monday and was ordered to be held in jail on a $2.5 million bail, KSTP-TV reported.
