Chinese Citizen Sentenced For Upending Minnesota Woman’s Life

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St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Chinese citizen living in California has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for cyberstalking and identity theft convictions involving a Minnesota victim.

28-year-old Ki Cheung Yau earlier entered a guilty plea to one count of cyberstalking and one count of identity theft stemming from the crimes against the Minnesota woman. As part of his deal with federal prosecutors, he also admitted to cyberstalking seven additional victims in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom between 2017 and last year.

Yau was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright. During the sentencing hearing, Judge Wright stated that Yau’s “actions are predatory and purely evil,” showing “a disregard for the safety and well-being of the victims and disregard for the law.” In imposing the statutory maximum sentence for cyberstalking, Judge Wright reflected on the impact of Yau’s cyberstalking on victims and told Yau, “The injuries you cause do not heal easily.”

In the Minnesota case, court documents indicate Yau created multiple online accounts on websites, including social media platforms, dating websites, and pornography websites while using the name, photos, and personally-identifying information of the Minnesota woman. Prosecutors say he used those accounts to pose as the victim during online communications with strangers during which he solicited "submissive or violent sexual relationships."

The charges against him accused Yau of trying to help the strangers he met online to locate the victim after inviting them to participate in dominating and violent sexual encounters. The victim reported that on two occasions in January of last year, a man came to her residence and asked for her by name, "presumably because he believed he was meeting the victim for a sexual encounter."

The woman also received messages from strangers who were responding to "explicit accounts and posts made by Yau while posing as the victim. Yau also included the names of the victim's family members and friends, along with photos of them and contact information.