Charge: DNA links St. Paul man to 2013 rape at Maplewood motel

A -year-old man charged in January with raping a -year-old St Paul woman he met on Facebook is now accused of committing a sexual assault at a Maplewood motel Thao Xiong s DNA came back as a match through an initiative to analyze a backlog of untested sexual assault kits according to a Ramsey County District Court criminal complaint charging him Friday by warrant with felony first-degree criminal sexual conduct Thao Xiong shown in January Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff s Office Xiong remained out of custody on Monday He was disclosed from jail on March after posting a bond in the January matter that also charges him with first-degree criminal sexual conduct Xiong allegedly committed that offense while on probation for a first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction involving a -year-old woman during a night of drinking at his St Paul apartment in July According to the Friday s criminal complaint A woman published to police on July that she had just been forcibly sexually assaulted at a motel off U S in Maplewood by a man she knew as Chue Lee identified in November through a DNA match as Xiong The woman commented she had been talking with Chue for two days over the phone that she did not know him previously and had assumed he got her number from someone she knew She reported he called her on July and noted he was coming to Minnesota from Wisconsin and craved her to show him around They also planned to go for a walk by a lake She met Xiong in the parking lot of a St Paul grocery store where he suggested they take one car and offered to drive She agreed and got into his car He drove past the lake telling her they were going to get something to eat first Rather than going to a restaurant he brought her to the motel saying he yearned to get specific rest before eating Xiong rented the room and once inside began ripping her clothes apart the complaint says She explained he overpowered her and raped her She went to a hospital for a sexual assault examination the same day A nurse examiner noted bruising to the woman s body and she complained about areas where she explained Xiong had bitten her She advised the nurse the assault began straightaway after they got into the motel room and Xiong locked the door After the assault she disclosed Xiong appeared scared so she got in his car Xiong dropped her off and about minutes later he called her and left a cruel message which she later provided to police The complaint says motel video shows Xiong arriving with the woman in a gray Toyota Prius just after p m He went into the motel office and then moved the car in front of a room The two entered the room at p m and left minutes later An investigator in late July discovered the sexual assault kit which had not been tested It was brought to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and four months later an unidentified male DNA profile taken from swabs of the woman was entered into the state s DNA databases and the National DNA Index System The BCA notified St Paul police on Nov that Xiong s DNA obtained from his sexual assault event matched the DNA in the assault Police tried to contact the woman but were unsuccessful the complaint says Last March police were informed DNA collected from Xiong in the January matter matched the DNA ascertained on the swabs taken from the victim the complaint says Police tried to locate the woman and reached her on April after her son called to ask why they were trying to contact his mother who does not speak English the complaint says She advised police through an interpreter she had been waiting for a very long time for an update on her incident and wants him prosecuted for sexually assaulting her the complaint says Police sent the incident to the attorney s office for charging consideration last month Kate Courtney Xiong s attorney in the January development disclosed Monday she could not comment on Friday s charge because she has been out of town and has not read the complaint Previous charges According to January s complaint St Paul police were dispatched to the -year-old woman s apartment in the Summit-University neighborhood about p m Jan after she shared she had just been forcefully sexually assaulted by a man who was later identified as Xiong She informed police someone must have given Xiong her phone number because he called asking to meet She agreed and invited him over When he entered the apartment she stated police he pushed her into her bedroom took off her clothes and raped her Related Articles Shooter gets -year prison term for killing St Paul man after Edina birthday dinner Blaine child care worker sentenced to days in jail for abusing children Woodbury bureaucrats seek info on rug connected to house fire Singer Dawn Richard says Sean Diddy Combs threatened her with death after she saw him beat Cassie St Paul man pleads guilty to murdering girlfriend in her downtown apartment She gave police a Facebook profile that Xiong used to contact her As an officer pulled up the profile she promptly stated that s him the complaint states He was arrested Jan after police obtained a search warrant for his apartment in St Paul s Payne-Phalen neighborhood and identified him hiding under his bed Court records show that Xiong reached a plea deal with prosecutors in the matter and admitted to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in exchange for a first-degree charge being dismissed He was sentenced to days in jail which was time that he had already served after his arrest and put on supervised probation for years Xiong has no other convictions besides two petty misdemeanor traffic violations