A former volunteer with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office Youth Plus Program and one-time aspiring police officer was sentenced to two years of supervised probation on Tuesday for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl last year.
Pao Ge Vue, 27, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in April to an amended charge of gross misdemeanor fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct after reaching a plea deal that also included dismissing a felony count of attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Pao Ge Vue (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Ramsey County District Judge David Brown followed the plea deal and stayed a nearly one-year jail sentence.
The victim and father agreed with the plea deal, according to the county attorney’s office. She wrote a statement for Brown to read prior to Vue’s sentencing, but did not want it read aloud in court.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl’s older sister reported the abuse to St. Paul police on Jan. 30, 2024. She said the girl had attended the youth program two to three times a week over the summer and that Vue, who was her coach, often provided the transportation for her.
The girl’s family began noticing she was spending a lot of time going to the “program” during off-hours. Her family also discovered that Vue was taking her to a workout facility in the evenings, “which caused concern,” the complaint says.
She told police that Vue touched her inner thighs five times, while also trying to touch her groin area before she told him to stop. She said that on two or three occasions Vue grabbed her hand to try and get her to touch his penis, which she refused to do. Vue also tried to kiss her, she told police.
The incidents happened when Vue was driving her somewhere or at a gym not associated with the youth program.
“(The girl) said as the touching occurred, she felt like crying,” the complaint reads. “She was also scared and questioning herself as to why she was going with him.”
She said Vue was in charge of her group and that he often would drive her and other kids to a park or field to work on skills for the sports they were playing. She lived closest to Vue so he would pick her up first and drop her off last.
She said she spent time with Vue outside of his volunteering time with the program and that she felt obligated to do so because he bought her volleyball shorts, a gym membership, food and other things. She said Vue told her to wear the shorts and made sexual comments to her as she was working out at the gym.
Vue told police he had become a volunteer with the Youth Plus Program in spring 2023 “because he wanted to become a police officer and thought it was a good career building move,” the complaint states.
Vue acknowledged to police that he provided transportation for the girl and other juveniles, and admitted to hanging out with some of them outside of his volunteering time. He said he bought them items with his own money. When Vue was asked if he ever touched the girl or she touched him, he said he wanted to “remain silent.”
Vue’s volunteer status with the program was terminated on Feb. 13, 2024. According to its webpage, the sheriff’s office started the program in February 2019 and it “introduces youth participants to athletics, outdoor activities, life skills, and literacy enhancement to improve reading skills. More importantly, this structured program helps prevent youth from becoming involved in criminal activity and helps them make more positive choices.”
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No contact with girls
Vue’s attorney, Rachael Goldberger, said he became a personal care assistant after the allegations surfaced. He recently was told by the state Department of Health he would be disqualified because of the charges, according to Goldberger.
Vue apologized in court and said he understands the “seriousness of my actions” and that he “will never make this same mistake again.”
His sentencing also includes that he complete treatment or a counseling program recommended by probation and register as a predatory offender. He cannot have contact with minor females unless approved by his probation officer.
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