Women receive life sentences for robbing, killing senior at Pechanga Resort

By City News Service

they reached the front exit, they observed Assad arrive with her 92-year-old husband, who walked toward a gaming room while the victim stepped into a lady's restroom, prosecutors said.

Pechanga security cameras captured all of the goings-on outside the lavatory, including images of Townsell and Williams "diverting their path (to the exit) to follow Mrs. Assad into the restroom," the brief stated.

and headed toward a sink, the defendants pounced on her. One ripped her pink purse from her grasp with such force as to leave a severe bruise on her left arm, and the other knocked the senior to the bathroom floor, where the back of her head impacted with the kind of severity comparable to "a motor vehicle accident, or an unprotected fall from standing height," according to the brief.

scious, prompting her to alert casino security and medical personnel, who attempted to render aid until fire department paramedics reached the location. The victim was taken to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, where she died three days later, never having regained consciousness. She had suffered a brain hemorrhage, prosecutors said.

Two women who robbed and fatally assaulted an octogenarian in a restroom of the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula were both sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Candace Tai Townsell, 42, and Kimesha Monae Williams, 39, both of Moreno Valley, were convicted in February of the 2019 slaying of 84-year-old Afaf Anis Assad of Long Beach.

A Murrieta jury deliber- ated only two hours before finding the pair guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and elder abuse, as well as finding true a specialcircumstance allegation of killing during the course of a robbery, with sentenceenhancing great bodily injury allegations.

During their sentencing hearing at the Southwest Justice Center Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Freer imposed the terms of imprisonment required by law.

According to the District Attorney's Office, Townsell and Williams were trawling the casino in the predawn hours of Aug. 31, 2019, stealing a woman's mobile phone and trying to scope out other targets for theft.

"Both have a longdocumented history of theft crimes throughout Riverside County," according to the prosecution's trial brief.

The defendants were preparing to leave at 7:30 a.m., and about the time

The women stationed themselves inside the bathroom, near the exit, as the victim walked into a stall. They were observed by two casino patrons, one of whom described them as loitering for "no real purpose," according to the brief.

One witness went into a stall, and the other left, after which the two defendants, Assad and the remaining witness were the only parties in the restroom.

According to court papers, as Assad left her stall

The witness in the stall heard the commotion and what sounded like "vomiting or throwing up," followed by a loud thud, court papers stated.

The defendants prevented a custodian from entering the restroom before bolting out of the space, all of which was caught on security cameras.

"Townsell was observed skipping and waiving her hands in a celebratory fashion," according to the brief.

The custodian found Assad bleeding and uncon-

The defendants' gain from the robbery was between $800 and $1,200, investigators said.

Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Brosche said detectives relied on the surveillance camera images and other leads to identify Townsell and Williams as the assailants. Both were taken into custody less than a week later — Townsell in Hemet, and Williams in Perris. Williams has prior convictions for grand theft, burglary and auto theft. Townsell has priors for theft and driving on a suspended license.