On 02/03/2026 at about 1433 hours, St. Paul police spotted a 1991 GMC GMT-400 truck (MN/KME390) that had been entered into NCIC as stolen out of Roseville less than two hours earlier. The truck was stuck in the snow near a known problem property at [ADDRESS REDACTED] E in St. Paul, Ramsey County. The value of the truck exceeded $5,000. Police detained the driver of the truck and identified him as David Michael YANG ([DOB REDACTED]). Officers saw that the truck’s steering column was severely damaged, its ignition had been completely ripped out, and there were wires hanging out of the steering column.
Auto thieves commonly damage a vehicle’s ignition so that it can be “hot-wired” or operated without a key. In a post-Miranda statement, YANG said that a Hispanic male named “GORDO” let him borrow the truck. YANG said that about an hour earlier he was with GORDO at a homeless encampment and asked GORDO for some tools to work on an ATV that he had stolen from a storage unit. Then, a friend asked YANG for help picking up her stuff and GORDO said YANG could borrow the truck. YANG said he had never seen GORDO with the truck before but had seen him with other trucks.
YANG said that he didn't feel right about it because of the truck’s ignition. YANG has more than 5 prior felony convictions. For purposes of Rule 6.
