Saturday, November 9, 2013

CASINO CRIMEWATCH: Soboba Tribal Member Sentenced to 18 years for Death of Homeless Advocate

 A Soboba tribal member was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for leading police on a high speed chase and killing a Hemet man who was leaving Soboba Casino.
Family members of Mike Morgan, 57, told a judge in a Riverside courtroom Friday, Nov. 8, about how Thomas Charles Durnin, 24, cut Morgan’s life short and robbed them of time with a husband, father and grandfather.
Rosemary Morgan said her husband used to keep coats and food in his car to give away to the homeless.  

Beaumont police attempted to stop Durnin on a minor traffic violation before he led them on a high speed chase. He was heading toward his home on the Soboba Indian Reservation when police lost sight of the pickup and terminated their pursuit less than a mile from the casino.
Durnin, in an attempt to surpass slower traffic, crossed his pickup into the opposite lane and crashed head-on with Morgan’s Cadillac Deville shortly past the casino entrance on Soboba Road.

Thomas Charles Durnin
THOMAS DURNIN
                                  

4 comments:

'aamokat said...

Soboba isn't known for the disenrollment of whole families but I think, at least for this individual, he should be disenrolled.

At Pechanga one of the witnesses against us during our disenrollment proceedings sent a hand written letter from prison where he was serving a prison sentence for molesting little girls, he is now out and a member in good standing. If anyone should be disenrolled, it should have been him, not his whole family, just him and not certainly not us.

Anonymous said...

To bad Robert Smith wasn't driving that Cadillac. Pala could go back to being prosperous instead of a sinking ship.

Anonymous said...

Weren't Raymond' Basquez relatives also in jail?...I bet they are still members in good standing!

Anonymous said...

Raymond Sr is a convicted Ripest and Raymond Jr is a convicted drug dealer.