Vernon King, the last of the 15 armed men who led a raid on the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in California’s gold country a year ago October to settle his case, has reached an agreement to settle his case of trespassing without entering a plea.
The 15 men were arrested on 29 felony counts after they led an armed incursion October 9 into the casino on a search for financial documents that they said were needed to keep the casino open.
The Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians owns the casino.
Instead, their raid led to the state and federal governments closing the casino, which remains closed. No one was injured during the incursion, but the Indian Gaming Regulatory Commission said it was concerned over the safety of patrons.
King is a former tribal council member of the Chukchansi. Under the agreement his case will be reviewed again in six months and if he has kept his record clean, it will be dismissed. A similar agreement was reached in November with three other members of the tribal police who took part in the incident.
Tex McDonald, the leader of one of several factions that were vying for control of the tribe led the raid. He and King were the only members of the tribal council to be arrested in the incident. His faction had lost control of the tribe and the casino several weeks previously. The raid was a bid to get it back.
McDonald was caught on video scuffling with a security guard who resisted the raid and he was convicted of felony false imprisonment, for which he spent eight months in county jail.
The tribe is hoping to reopen the casino soon. One of the last barriers to this occurred recently when Madera County’s Board of Supervisors approved a new intergovernmental agreement with the tribe.
So far the state and federal governments have not given the go ahead to reopen.
