Member of drug distribution ring, sentenced to 4 years in prison, says he was powerless over his addiction

Judge cites lack of criminal history as factor for low term.

One member of a local drug-dealing family is getting four years in prison. 

Holmen, Wis., native John Vang was sentenced Monday, after pleading guilty to being a middle-level player in a meth ring which routinely brought drugs manufactured by Mexican drug cartels from the Twin Cities to La Crosse. 

“I admit that I was powerless over my addiction to doing meth,” the 28-year-old told the court. “It made me very careless, hanging with the wrong crowd and I made some poor choices.

“As I end this, please, I ask that you take into consideration to giving me another chance, to make my life a better one and to become more responsible.”

Vang was part the meth ring that saw 17 people in the area arrested back in 2015.

Assistant District Attorney John Kellis said several members of Vang’s family were involved in the operation.

“It seems really difficult to believe that (Vang) didn’t really know what was going on here and that his entire involvement over a four-year span was two or three isolated incidents where he helped lay out a little bit of methamphetamine,” Kellis said.

But, while Judge Scott Horne had a similar view, he cites a lack of a criminal history as one factor for a low prison term.

“I do accept the fact that you were a significant player in the methamphetamine distribution,” Horne said.

Horne concluded that Vang may not have been a big boss in a La Crosse meth-running operation, but he was more heavily involved than he let on in court. 

“When you sell to addicts, you prey on that addiction and you exploit that addiction for your own purposes,” Horne said. “And that in no way, shape or form can be accepted.”

Horne said that confusion about Vang’s identity and his role in bringing meth from Minneapolis delayed a sentencing, which was supposed to take place in February.  

John Vang’s cousin, Adam Vang, was convicted by a jury last week for his role in the meth ring and will be sentenced later this summer. Most of the 17 arrested in the bust have now been sentenced.