Felon Ordered To Stand Trial On Murder Charge Following Fatal Beating In Moreno Valley

MORENO VALLEY, CA — A felon accused of fatally beating a 38-year-old Moreno Valley man during a confrontation at a house on the east end of the city must stand trial for first-degree murder, a judge ruled Monday.

Brandon Jermain Thigpen, 36, of Moreno Valley, was arrested in March following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation into the death of Sean Street.

At the end of a preliminary hearing Monday, Superior Court Judge Sam Shouka found there was sufficient evidence to bound Thigpen over for trial on the murder count and a sentence-enhancing allegation of being a prior-strike felon.

Shouka scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for July 7 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

He allegedly attacked Street early on the afternoon of March 17 in the 14000 block of Big Horn Avenue, near Oliver Street, less than two blocks from Riverside University Medical Center, according to sheriff's Sgt. Alberto Loureiro.

He alleged there was an unspecified confrontation between the men at the two-story residence, and during the encounter, Thigpen inflicted life- threatening injuries, though authorities did not disclose the exact means.

The sergeant said witnesses, whose identities were not released, loaded Street into a vehicle and drove him the short distance to a hospital, where "he succumbed to his injuries" that night.

"Sean was a smart, caring, light-hearted, one-of-a-kind person," his sister, Morgan Pelham, said on a GoFundMe page set up to raise donations for the Street family. "Sean carved a path in life for himself that we are so proud of ... This was an unexpected tragedy for us."

She did not elaborate on what allegedly occurred.

The GoFundMe campaign has raised $36,607 to date. The page can be found HERE.

Central Homicide Unit detectives questioned everybody at the house and at the medical center, where the defendant was taken into custody the morning after the attack. He was not injured.

Thigpen's prior felony conviction was not specified in court documents.