Overview
- Sansue Bee Vang was sentenced on June 11 to 225 years to life after a Butte County jury convicted him of eight counts of child molestation and three counts of rape.
- Prosecutors told jurors that Vang used his role as the founder and 'prophet' of a Hmong religious group to groom, coerce and sexually assault female followers, and multiple victims described threats meant to silence them.
- The group, Kev Ntseeg Leej Niam Kee Tiam Vaj Lis Thum, was founded in Wisconsin, moved to Fresno in 2015 and relocated select families to Oroville in 2020 where followers began building a temple and community.
- Under California’s Elderly Parole Program Vang, who is 58, could be eligible to appear before a parole board after roughly 20 years in prison, and Republican state lawmakers have criticized the rule as a public safety risk.
- Butte County prosecutors say Vang’s lack of remorse is now part of the official record that parole panels would see, and the case has intensified scrutiny of the state Board of Parole Hearings and rules for elderly parole.