Nye County sheriff calls defendant a ‘con man’

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1999 | 11:14 a.m.

Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke Tuesday called Rick Tabish a "con man" who used him to set up an alibi in the theft of Ted Binion's silver fortune after the gambling figure's murder.

Lieseke made the remarks to reporters after his courtroom testimony in which he rebutted claims by several of his deputies who had raised suspicions about his activities the day Tabish and two other men were arrested in the silver heist.

"He's a con man, an ex-felon," Lieseke said of Tabish, who is charged with Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, in Binion's Sept. 17 murder. "I had no involvement in this other than to answer my phone."

Tabish, 34, and his lawyer, Steve Wolfson, contend the Montana contractor telephoned Lieseke several times on his cell phone on Sept. 18 to let him know he was coming to dig up an estimated $4 million in silver Binion had buried in an underground vault on property he owned in the heart of downtown Pahrump.

On the witness stand, Lieske acknowledged receiving the calls, but he said Tabish only mentioned taking property, not digging up silver from a vault.

His testimony came on the 12th day of the preliminary hearing for Tabish, Murphy and four other defendants charged in crimes related to Binion's death.

Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti was to hear closing arguments today before deciding whether all six defendants should stand trial. Togliatti plans to announce her decision in court next Tuesday.

Lieseke, who wears hearing aides in both ears, said he was so angry at being dragged into the silver theft that he gave the orders at the scene early Sept. 19 to arrest Tabish and two other men, Michael Milot and David Mattsen.

That contradicted previous sworn testimony from Nye County Sgt. Ed Howard and ex-Sgt. Steve Huggins, who said Lieseke told them at the scene that he didn't believe there was a case to make arrests.

Dean Pennock, a former deputy who participated in the arrests, testified Tuesday that he overheard that conversation.

But Lieseke said it was "absurd" to believe he didn't want the three men taken into custody. He acknowledged that he called Howard and Huggins "liars" in interviews with reporters after their testimony last week.

Outside the courtroom, Lieske told the Sun that all three were political adversaries who had been supporting his opponent, Doug Richards, during his re-election campaign last year.

Lieseke said he was seeking an independent administrative probe into inconsistencies in Howard's courtroom statements and those in his arrest reports.

Prosecutors believe the clash between Lieseke and his deputies will have little effect on the silver theft aspect of the Binion murder case. The defendants still have to explain why they never got permission from Binion's estate to dig up the silver in the middle of the night.

Tabish contends Binion told him in the event of his death that he was to retrieve the silver from the vault, turn it into cash and put it in a trust account for his 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie Binion, the chief heir to his $50 million estate.

Lieseke testified that Tabish and Mattsen, who managed Binion's ranch in Pahrump at the time, led him to believe prior to the theft that Tabish was a longtime business partner of the former casino executive.

Mattsen told Lieseke that Tabish was "carrying out the last wishes of a dead person," the sheriff said.

Afterward, Lieseke told reporters that Mattsen had "set me up pretty good."

Mattsen, Lieseke said on the witness stand, came to see him while he was campaigning Sept. 18 at Pahrump's annual Harvest Festival to inform him that Tabish would be contacting him.

Lieseke said he later told Tabish over the phone that he had no authority to allow him to take any of Binion's property and suggested he contact lawyers for Binion's estate. Both lawyers, Richard Wright and James J. Brown, testified last week that Tabish never talked to them.

Lieseke testified that Tabish said at the scene of his arrest that Binion had told him the sheriff was to receive $250,000 in his will. Lieseke said he later jokingly asked Wright and Brown about that, and they replied he wasn't in the will.

Huggins testified that Tabish had told him at the scene that he promised to give Lieseke $100,000 for helping pave the way to take the silver.

But Lieseke testified that he knew nothing about the $100,000 offer.

Lieseke, meanwhile, said Binion told him he had buried other valuables at his ranch.

About two weeks before Binion's death, Lieseke said, he received a phone call from Binion in which the casino man said there was "property underground" at the ranch.

Binion's longtime secretary, Cathy Rose, told private investigator Tom Dillard that Murphy had informed her about 10 days after Binion's death that there was property buried under a tree at the ranch.

Murphy, according to Rose, offered to show Binion's brother, Jack Binion, where it was and suggested both could share whatever was dug up.

Rose discussed her conversation with Murphy in a Sept. 29 statement she gave to Dillard, who has been investigating Binion's death for his estate.