Super Pawn bandits convicted in holdup, hostage standoff

Bill Gang

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 4:06 a.m.

The defense attorneys for the two men and one woman who committed the robbery at a Super Pawn Store that degenerated into a six-hour standoff with five hostages admitted they may have committed a couple of crimes, but certainly not 11.

But the jury in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom disagreed -- spending less than two hours in deliberations before convicting Tarz Mitchell, 31, Stephanie Lark, 31, and Howard Benjamin, 27, of all 11 counts.

As the verdicts were read, tears creeped down Benjamin's face and Lark slowly shook her head in disagreement. Mitchell leaned back against a wall and took a deep breath.

Their convictions for first-degree kidnapping means mandatory life prison terms and that probation is out of the question.

If the judge decides at their Sept. 23 sentencing to make the punishments run one after the other, they may never get out of prison. The least they could serve, if the sentences are ordered to run all at the same time, is five years before they would be eligible for parole.

Despite their reactions to the verdicts, convictions for the men always were likely since they surrendered to end the standoff that involved 120 police officers and numerous other emergency personnel.

The five hostages were unharmed

Lark's role, however, was less clear since she tried to portray herself as one of the victims.

But she was Mitchell's girlfriend, and the jury believed she had let the two gunmen into the store where she worked at 3252 Las Vegas Blvd. North just before it opened.

Lark was the second "hostage" freed, but she walked out with more than $11,000 in cash and jewelry belonging to Super Pawn hidden in her panty hose.

Lark's attorney, David Amesbury, tried to portray her as a victim who was "merely opportunistic" and snatched the cash when the robbery went bad. He argued that she never had participated as a bandit, never used a gun and never tied up any of the hostages.

During closing arguments Thursday, Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz reminded the jury that a .380-caliber pistol Mitchell and Benjamin used to terrorize the hostages also had been stolen by Lark from Super Pawn.

Schwartz told the jury that Lark was part of the conspiracy and played a major role in the planning. Because of that, he said, she was as guilty of all crimes in the March 4 incident as the men.

While the attorneys for the men had argued that there was only one bullet in the gun and the hostages were never in any real danger, Schwartz countered that a hostage could have died from that one bullet or from a bullet fired by a police officer.

"Common sense tells you this was anything but a simple robbery gone bad," he told the jury. "The three defendants turned March 4 into a living hell for five people."

Although the holdup began as a well-planned event, the bandits didn't know that two corporate officials were inside with the three regular employees. Those officials, who were in a tiny office, called 911 after barricading the door.

The pair spent the next four hours in the windowless office with no ventilation before one became ill and they were forced to surrender to the gunman.

During that four hours the robbers threatened to shoot through the door and tried to pry their way inside with a crowbar.

The corporate employees actually were at the store for an embezzlement investigation that was targeting Lark.

None of the defendants took the witness stand in their own defense.