51ºÚÁÏ

Qui Tran, who with his family runs the popular Vietnamese restaurant, Mai Lee, was in court Thursday for the sentencing of one of the two men convicted of robbing his father, Sau Tran, seven years ago.

Qui Tran, also a co-owner of the ramen restaurant Nudo House, told a judge that at the time of the robbery his father had $50,000 in his Crestwood home from the sale of family land in Vietnam. The men beat his father, locked him in a closet and took the cash.

Raymond Hardge, 43, was sentenced on Thursday.

“He violently beat my father,� Qui Tran told the judge. “If it wasn’t for my dead grandparents’ money, we don’t know that my father would be here today.�

Hardge was found guilty in March of first-degree robbery in the on Feb 25, 2018, incident, after a jury trial in which Sau Tran testified.

Hardge’s co-defendant, Jameel Spann, pleaded guilty to felony stealing in December and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

On Thursday, assistant 51ºÚÁÏ County prosecuting attorney Benjamin Goldsmith asked the judge to sentence Hardge to the maximum sentence, 30 years, because of the egregious nature of the crime and a perceived lack of remorse from Hardge.

“(Sau Tran) was stripped, with a gun to his head, paraded through his house and eventually locked in a closet,� he said.

Qui Tran told the judge his family had immigrated from Vietnam with no money and dreamed of a better life. They found success, he said, in opening Mai Lee, credited as the region’s first Vietnamese restaurant.

He said he believed that financial success made the Tran family a target.

Goldsmith said Hardge and Spann indeed targeted Sau Tran and stalked him while planning to rob him at his home.

But Hardge and his defense attorney, Brook Lima, said he was not the one who attacked Sau Tran.

“He wasn’t the person in the house terrorizing Mr. Tran,� Lima told the judge.

Hardge did admit to being involved, though.

“I’m guilty of bad decisions,� Hardge told the judge. “I am not guilty of putting a gun to Mr. Tran’s head. If I had been that person … I’d bite the bullet.�

Hardge said he was asked several questions about the robbery during an assessment for sentencing.

“What I said was this is an unfortunate situation,� Hardge told the judge. “I said that I wished nothing had happened to Mr. Tran. I wish he had not gone through such a traumatic situation.�

This is Hardge’s second robbery conviction. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, kidnapping, first-degree burglary and felonious restraint in 51ºÚÁÏ County.

Goldsmith told the judge the circumstances of that case are “remarkably similar� to the 2018 robbery. Spann was charged in that case, as well.

Ultimately, Judge John Borbonus sentenced Hardge to 30 years in prison.

After the hearing, Qui Tran said his family was grateful to all the agencies who helped prosecute the case.

“They all did a phenomenal job,� he said. “We’d like to give them credit for just bringing this whole thing together. They followed through and we are forever grateful for it.�

The Tran family opened Mai Lee in 1985 shortly after immigrating from Vietnam. It originally featured a full Chinese menu, but to honor their Vietnamese heritage, Qui Tran’s mother, Lee Tran, said she slowly added Vietnamese dishes to the menu.

Qui Tran opened his ramen restaurant, Nudo House, in 2017.