A 19-year-old Woodbury man was given three years of probation for stealing $20,000 to $30,000 in cash last year from the popular Egg Roll Queen food truck, which was parked in South St. Paul.

Frank Gums Jr. was sentenced Monday in Dakota County District Court after admitting to swiping a backpack that contained the food truck’s previous month’s business proceeds, as well as jewelry, checkbooks and electronics. His guilty plea to the felony theft charge came on the same day a trial was to begin.

Frank Gums Jr. (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

The food truck is run by Mai Vang, who is well known on St. Paul’s East Side for her litter pick-ups and other community work. Vang, who lost most of her hearing in 2013 without warning, gave up a career in the insurance field two years later and switched to egg roll sales, which she was already accustomed to doing for her charitable fundraisers.

Gums was given a stay of imposition as part of a plea agreement with the prosecution, meaning the conviction will become a misdemeanor as long as he follows conditions of probation. The plea deal also included no additional jail time beyond the 79 days he’d already served.

Judge David Knutson reserved setting restitution until community corrections establishes the amount to be paid back.

According to the criminal complaint, Vang called police on Sept. 13, 2023, to report that a man had opened the driver’s side door of her food truck and grabbed the backpack with the cash and other belongings. He drove away in a red car.

Surveillance video from neighboring businesses helped South St. Paul police officers track down the vehicle’s owner, who told them Gums had taken her car in late August and didn’t return it.

Police later determined that another woman who had been in the car at the time of the theft had been arrested by St. Paul police on a separate matter on Sept. 17. Gums informed an acquaintance he had watched the food truck for two hours and bought an egg roll before the theft, the complaint says. He had allegedly showed off bags of cash to a friend.

Officers tracked Gums’ phone on Sept. 22 to a St. Paul motel room, where they discovered both Gums and the woman, who attempted to escape the room by climbing out the window. The woman later told officers she had told him not to steal the backpack and she didn’t know where the money from the stolen bag had gone.

Gums acknowledged he had driven the car but denied being involved in the theft, even after officials confronted him with the surveillance video.

He was released from jail on Nov. 2 after posting a $10,000 bond.

Three more criminal cases

Court records show Gums then went on to pick up three more criminal cases in three counties.

Gums was arrested Nov. 27 in the Woodbury Costco parking lot for driving a stolen car with stolen plates. Officers found other stolen license plates inside the car, which was taken in Eden Prairie, as well as a number of documents and checks from several people, according to the Washington County criminal complaint.

Gums appeared to be impaired and he admitted to using fentanyl just prior to driving to Costco, the complaint says.

He posted a $10,000 bond Nov. 29 and was released from jail.

Gums picked up an auto theft charge in Ramsey County on Jan. 10. He posted a $10,000 bond on Jan. 29, a day after his arrest.

Gums was charged April 18 in Hennepin County in connection with the theft of an Audi from a Discount Tire in Minnetonka. He was released from jail April 19 after posting a $15,000 bond.

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In September, Gums was convicted of misdemeanor fourth-degree driving while impaired in the Woodbury case. He was given a 90-day jail sentence, which was then stayed for two years of supervised probation. A felony charge of receiving stolen property was dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Gums reached a plea deal last month in the Minnetonka car theft and a 13-month prison sentence was stayed for three years of supervised probation and 30 days of electronic home monitoring.

On Monday, after his sentencing in the food truck case, Gums was in a Ramsey County courtroom for the January auto theft charge. Gums, who previously pleaded guilty as charged, was given a 15-month prison term, which was stayed for three years of probation. He was ordered to serve eight days of electronic home monitoring beyond 32 days he had already served in custody.