Xuesong
“Gary” Yang, who once worked as a recruiter of foreign students for the
University of Illinois Springfield, has quietly pleaded guilty to raping a 17-year-old
Chinese student.
The
guilty plea came yesterday in a proceeding before Sangamon County Circuit Court
Judge Leslie Graves. In addition to pleading guilty to aggravated criminal
sexual abuse, Yang pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, a charge that came
after he was captured on videotape in a police interview room scratching his
chest in an attempt to remove marks from his chest that the victim told police
that she had left.
Yang
entered an open plea, meaning that there is no plea bargain involved. And so it
will be up to Graves to decide his punishment at a sentencing hearing set for
Aug. 8. In the meantime, Graves yesterday ordered Yang to register as a sex
offender for life. The judge denied his request to meet with a UIS student for
“mitigation purposes,” according to the court docket, but the docket isn’t
clear on whether Yang asked to meet with his victim. Yang remains free on
$500,000 bond.
While
held in open court, the hearing was not docketed prior to being held, and so
there was no way for the public to know about it in advance, although the
victim and police officers who investigated the rape reportedly were in attendance.
Neither Graves nor Sangamon County Circuit Clerk Paul Palazzolo, who keeps
court records, nor Sangamon County state’s attorney John Milhiser, who was
present when Yang pleaded guilty, could immediately be reached to determine why
the hearing did not appear on the public docket, which is supposed to include
the times and dates of scheduled hearings.
In addition to yesterday’s hearing, the
victim, who looks years younger than 17, also attended a May 15 pretrial
proceeding, when a trial date of June 12 was set. During that proceeding, Yang
sat at the back of the courtroom, in a corner, his face buried in papers until
he was called to appear before the judge. His victim sat on the other side of
the courtroom, looking drawn and clutching hands with a fellow UIS student.
According
to police reports, Yang plied the girl with wine before raping her in his
downtown Springfield office on her 17th birthday the day after she
arrived in the United States from China (“Springfield businessman charged with
raping UIS student,” Jan. 20, 2017.”) One week later, the girl reported that
Yang again raped her in his office. The second time, the victim told a fellow
student in her dorm about what had happened and authorities were alerted.
Yang
had enormous power on campus, according to police reports, telling students
from China that he could change grades and send them home (“Accused UIS rapist
had power,” Jan. 26, 2017). Students told Springfield police that Yang, who was
hired by UIS to recruit students from China in 2013, had victimized other
students, but no other charges have been filed. Students also told police that
payments as high as $48,000 “Chinese currency” had been made to allow
attendance at UIS, prompting an investigation into potential trafficking of
students that involved federal authorities. Last fall, UIS police told federal
authorities that they had uncovered no evidence of trafficking (“UIS police find no trafficking,” Feb. 23, 2017).
Under
a series of annual contracts, Yang was hired at the rate of $30,000 per year as
a student adviser who recruited students from China. The students would
typically study English on campus until they became proficient enough to enroll
as full-fledged undergraduates. Yang first raped the student one day before his
third contract expired; the second rape occurred less than a week after Yang’s
contract expired.
Yang once ran restaurants in Springfield, including Ginger Asian Bistro on the west side, which closed several years ago.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2017.
