Peng Tang Sentenced to 17 Years. Victim: 'Couldn't Sleep' and 'Had Nightmares' Following Assault

Peng Tang, a former University of Iowa student, was formally sentenced today to up to 17-years in prison after being found guilty of posing as a potential tenant and sexually assaulting a fellow Chinese national.

Tang, 22, could be eligible for parole sooner but will likely be deported to China following his sentence.

Vanessa Miller of the Gazette also reports that a letter from the victim was read in court today by Johnson County District Attorney Janet Lyness:

Former Iowa student sentenced for apartment sex assault (The Gazette, more of the letter at the link)

“I couldn’t forget how he was trying to handcuff me and how he stuffed my mouth with a towel,” Lyness read from the victim’s letter. “I couldn’t sleep for a long time and for the first couple of weeks I always had nightmares.”

The victim also stated that Tang had spread rumors about her on Chinese social networks that had reached her parents back in China.

Miller reported that for his part, Tang still insisted he was innocent when he spoke on his own behalf on Monday. 

Tang had been facing first-degree kidnapping charges but pleaded guilty Feb. 11 of this year to lesser charges: sexual abuse in the third degree, extortion, and a separate charge of soliciting to tamper with a witness.

In late March of 2012, Tang was arrested and accused of sexually assaulting a woman who was showing him her apartment for rent. Tang reportedly found her through a website that caters to Chinese nationals, according to a search warrant filed as part of court documents at the Johnson County Courthouse.

According to the search warrant, the woman who reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted had placed her ad on zhan.renren.com with the intent of subletting her apartment. The warrant stated that the ad was directed at Chinese nationals and was written in Chinese.

The woman received a response to her ad on March 29 and agreed to meet him that night at 8 p.m., according to the warrant. The man was identified as Peng Tang, 21, of Iowa City.

As the woman was showing the man the bedroom, he grabbed the victim by the hands and attempted to tie her up, according to the documents. Telling her he had a knife, he then forced her to perform sex acts and took photos, some of them of her nude, according to the warrant.

“You have better follow my requirements because I have a knife,” the man told the woman, according to Iowa City police criminal complaint.

Near the end of the assault, the woman told the man she had friends waiting for her at the University of Iowa Main Library, so he walked her there afterward, later warning her by text message that if she went to the police he would post the photos of the sex acts online, according to the search warrant.

Later charges filed against Tang included burglarizing his old residence before the alleged assault -- stealing a laptop and women's underwear. After he was in jail, Tang also was accused of attempting to convince the female victim in the case to change her story, both by a letter from him personally and by his parents allegedly seeking the woman out to offer her a bribe.

The case was also muddied after Tang claimed to not understand the concept of Miranda Rights, due to there being no Chinese equivalent, and a witness tampering case against his parents being dropped by the Johnson County Attorney due to "cultural differences."