Warrant issued for Vang in 2002
He was wanted for failure to pay fine for trespassing
By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
rrutledge@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 26, 2004
Chai Soua Vang, the man suspected of slaying six hunters and wounding two others Sunday, has been wanted by police since 2002.
The court commissioner in Green Lake County, Wis., issued a warrant for Vang's arrest Oct. 9, 2002, for failure to pay a $244 fine for trespassing that year.
Vang and a friend were cited by the Green Lake County sheriff's office on April 7, 2002, after a landowner spotted them hunting without permission on his land.
But St. Paul, Minn., police, who came in contact with Vang numerous times since then, and officials from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which issued him a 2004 hunting license, said it's unlikely the warrant would have made any difference.
St. Paul police were called to Vang's home five times since June 2003 for various reasons, including domestic disturbances and theft complaints, but Vang was never arrested. Police spokesman Paul Schnell said officers typically search a national law enforcement database to see if an arrested suspect is wanted in other states. He did not know whether officers searched the system for Vang because he had not been arrested.
Even if they did search the system, the nature of the warrant - a misdemeanor that Green Lake County does not extradite for - wouldn't have given them authority to arrest him, Schnell said. Berlin Journal Newspapers in Berlin, Wis., first reported the existence of the warrant Thursday.
"What everyone is looking for is, were there clues that were missed, is there anything along the way here that could have been done, should have been done to prevent this," Schnell said. "There was never one thing along the way of our contact with him that would ever have said 'This guy is bound to hurt someone at some point in time,' " Schnell said.
Randy Stark, spokesman for the DNR, said the warrant didn't stop Vang from getting a 2004 hunting license because the licensing system isn't linked to law enforcement data bases other than one identifying people in arrears for child support payments. It doesn't even prohibit a person with a revoked hunting license from obtaining a new license, Stark said.
"We're in the process of trying to cross match or index it to people who are revoked, so people could not purchase a license if under revocation," he said.
The DNR also has been considering connecting the system to wanted felon databases, but the implementation poses challenges given the numerous retail outlets that sell licenses.
"You can imagine if you were a vendor at a gas station and people were coming in to buy licenses, and there was an indication that a person is felon or is revoked and couldn't buy a license. That could create serious tension at the license sale counter. We worry about that," Stark said.
The state attorney general's office plans to file a criminal complaint against Vang on Monday.
Vang, who is being held in the Sawyer County Jail in lieu of a $2.5 million bail, is due to appear in court Tuesday. Steve Kohn, a Milwaukee attorney who has represented several high-profile clients including Jeffrey Dahmer's killer Christopher Scarver, said Friday he and his firm, Kohn and Smith, are now representing Vang. Kohn said he plans to hold a press conference Sunday. He would not answer media questions Friday.
Shannon
