|
Honolulu Lite
Charles Memminger
|
Cult leader Dubie killed in Thailand
WORD has reached us that George Dubie, former Hawaii cult leader, convicted thief, alleged con man and all-around colorful character, has been gunned down by one of his girlfriends in northern Thailand.
Various news agencies are reporting that Dubie was shot to death in front of the Whole Earth Restaurant in Chiang Mai. Canadian Margaret Crane, 48, apparently shot Dubie three times with a .38-caliber handgun during an argument.
Typical of the confusion and misdirection that was a trademark of Dubie's life, Thai police listed him as both 52 and 56 years old, a freelance journalist for CNN (which CNN denied) and married to a Thai woman while still in an abusive relationship with Crane and her five children.
I CAME TO know Dubie in the 1980s as a police reporter when Dubie anointed himself the Messiah and managed to convince a group of muddle-headed rich young followers to live with him on Kauai. Their "temple" was a ritzy house on the water in Princeville (owned by the family of a follower), and Dubie had his devotees steal from various Kauai businesses while he played golf.
He allegedly was filling a container with the stolen merchandise in preparation for a trip to the "promised land," somewhere in Australia, when the theft ring was exposed and Dubie fled with one of his devotee's children. Several of the followers were arrested and pleaded out. Dubie eventually returned to Hawaii and faced the legal music. He might have done a little jail time, but he basically beat the rap and continued his Walter Mitty-ish enterprises.
When shot by Crane he was going by the name "Daniel." His cult followers also knew him as Sean Dubie, David Hart, Keoke Dubie, Christian Hart and Frances LaRue.
I INTERVIEWED one of his "warriors," Craig Ingraham, in 1983, and he told me of a bizarre life living with a self-proclaimed god. Dubie performed several "miracles" which Ingraham later realized were "sleight-of-hand tricks."
All this might seem silly in these post-David Koresh days, but in the '70s and '80s, Hawaii, particularly Kauai, was home to a number of wacky cults. Dubie's ability to hoodwink followers apparently ended on busy Sri Don Chai Road in Thailand July 2.
Charles Memminger, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists' 2004 First Place Award winner for humor writing, appears Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. E-mail
cmemminger@starbulletin.com