As 2016 comes to a close, we continue to look back on some of the top stories of the year. Here’s the last of a four-part series.
Several visitors—famous and infamous—made surprise appearances to the Morongo Basin earlier this year.
In September, a stolen big rig was driven from Barstow to Interstate 15 to Highway 60 to eastbound Interstate 10 and up to Highway 62 before turning around in Yucca Valley and heading back to the freeway. After more than five hours of pursuit, the driver James Edgley, 48, of Victorville, eventually surrendered to CHP officers at a rest area west of Whitewater. Edgley pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle and felony evading and was sentenced to three years in state prison.
In October, with just a few hours advance notice, Paul McCartney played a sold-out show at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. Thousands of people stood in line for the 300 tickets that were sold for $50 each. McCartney was in the area for the two-weekend outdoor music show, Desert Trip, at the polo grounds in Indio.
Some of the top crime stories of the past year include the Twentynine Palms couple who sent their children out into the desert during 100-degree temperatures as punishment. Mary Bell, 34, and her boyfriend, Gary Cassle, 29, transients who were living in a truck, were sentenced to 240 days in jail for sending Bell’s 7-year-old girl, 6-year-old boy, and a 5-year-old boy without shoes, water, or food out into the desert near Samarkand in July. A protective order was filed against them for the children.
The man accused of killing John Rossin, 77, in his RV which was parked in front of the Yucca Valley Home Depot in 2014, was convicted of murder and sentenced in July to 26 years to life in prison.
The Marine who shot his friend in the mouth in March 2014 was convicted and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison in October. Brock Myers said he was “drunk and stupid” when he responded to a dare by Steven Kohus and put a gun—which he said he thought was unloaded—into his friend’s mouth and pulled the trigger. Myers has filed an appeal.
