Wausau Pilot & Review
Portage County District Attorney Cass Cousins announced today a Plover man was convicted by jury Thursday night of sexually abusing children and now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Khengzing Yang, 35, was charged in November of 2022 after accusations surfaced that he sexually abused both his son and daughter in 2015. The children were approximately 4 and 7 years old at the time of the abuse. Both children testified about the sexual abuse they suffered at their father’s hands.
The crimes were first disclosed in July of 2022. The children previously been removed from the defendant’s care for abuse and neglect.
In the time leading up to trial, another one of the defendant’s children disclosed that she had also been sexually abused by the defendant approximately 10 years ago, when she was four years ago. The defendant has been separately charged with this incident, although this child also testified at trial about her abuse.
The investigations leading up to these prosecutions were conducted by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Portage County Sheriff’s Office.
The two-day trial was presided over by Judge Patricia Baker and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jed Dodge. The jury deliberated for approximately three hours before returning guilty verdicts on two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child younger than 12 and two counts of incest with a child.
Following the verdict, Judge Baker revoked the defendant’s bond and remanded him to the custody of the Portage County Sheriff’s Office to await sentencing.
The sentencing hearing was scheduled for Nov. 22, 2023. Because of the age of the victims at the time of the sexual abuse, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years of initial confinement, Cousins said.
