Arrest made in ‘90 murder; warrant issued for second man

Bill Gang

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 10:42 a.m.

When David Lemons stood trial in 1993 for the execution-style slaying of a whistle-blowing computer programmer for a slot machine company, police and prosecutors knew the evidence was thin.

They had hoped the trial of the mildly retarded man would shake loose evidence that would enable charges to be filed against those who authorities alleged were behind the 1990 murder of 49-year-old Larry Volk.

But Lemons sat quietly, unwilling to plea bargain and become a prosecution witness in the alleged murder-for-hire plot. In the end, he was acquitted by a District Court jury.

In September, Lemons finally confessed to being the one who fired a single bullet into Volk's head from short range as the former American Coin Co. employee worked on a car in front of his mobile home.

In his confession, according to a police affidavit, he also implicated two of the people who law enforcement officials had pursued unsuccessfully from the beginning.

One of those, 52-year-old Soni Beckman, was arrested Wednesday in Helendale, Calif., outside Los Angeles.

"Lemons indicated that he believed Soni to have a great deal of involvement in the planning of the murder and payment of monies to Lemons," Metro Detective J. Franks stated in his affidavit.

Deputy District Attorney David Roger said Beckman has waived extradition and will be returned to Las Vegas to face murder charges.

Roger said retired Deputy District Attorney Mel Harmon, who had unsuccessfully prosecuted Lemons, will be rehired as a special prosecutor for the case.

The second suspect, 37-year-old John Sipes, also known as Vito Bruno, is still on the loose although a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Lemons told police that he was confessing because he needed to cleanse his conscience of the guilt he has been carrying around for more than seven years.

He cannot be charged criminally again because of the prohibition against double jeopardy.

At the time he confessed, Lemons was in prison in Jean on one of four trips he had made over the years for a variety of crimes.

In the affidavit, Franks quotes Lemons as saying he has "rededicated myself to my Christian faith and through persistance, I've outgrown my worldly lusts and and desires and matured and I've been renewed and strengthened by the Lord."

Lemons told police he had been paid $5,000 by Sipes to kill Volk to prevent him from testifying before a grand jury about instructions he had received to re-program computer chips in video poker machines to prevent maximum payoffs.

Lemons, according to the affidavit, first helped Sipes throw a bomb into a bedroom at Volk's East Vegas Valley Drive mobile home on Sept. 16, 1990. Much of the trailer was damaged but the bomb missed its mark because Volk and his wife were in Hawaii at the time.

Two weeks later, Lemons recalled, he took a .357-caliber pistol given him by Sipes and drove his motorcycle to the mobile home at 5514 Petaca Ave. that he and Sipes had previously staked out using Beckman's Mercedes Benz.

Lemons and Sipes actually had been arrested in Beckman's car five days before the murder on a street close to the Volks' home. In the car were two weapons, including a shotgun that Lemons has said belonged to Beckman.

While Volk's home had been bombed, he didn't get the message and move or at least accept the protection of law enforcement anxious to prosecute the American Coin owners.

According to Franks, Lemons said he walked up to where Volk was working on his car and pulled the revolver from his belt. "Volk looked up at Lemons as he fired one round into the head of Volk, striking him near the top of the head."

"Lemons described Volk as staring at him, then taking a step back and falling to the ground," Franks said in his report filed in Las Vegas Justice Court.

The murder weapon was discarded in a trash bin, according to Lemons' story.

Franks said Lemons indicated Beckman had been present when he received his final payment for the contract killing.

In his affidavit, Franks admitted Lemons "was vague about times and certain events but seemed to be sincere in relating the murder for hire plot."

Lemons' original letter sent to authorities about the slaying simply stated, "I'm confessing to the murder of Larry Volk. I've been to trial already and was found not guilty."

In his second note, Lemons stated, "It is my concern to admit to a murder. the reason is it is a unforgivable crime. Pleas understand, I want, need to turn myself in."

His interview with police followed.

After Volk told authorities of the computer chip scam at American Coin, the company was closed and the gaming licenses of the owners -- Rudolph and Rudy M. LaVecchia and Frank Romano -- were surrendered in a deal that required them to pay a $1 million fine to the state in the February 1990 deal.

American Coin, at the time, was the state's fourth largest slot route operator, with more than 1,000 machines in various Las Vegas locations. The company was charged with altering 300 machines.

Soni Beckman and Sipes, her nephew, were said to be friends of the LaVecchias.

Although Romano's license was revoked, it was not alleged that he was part of the computer chip scam.