Nye County officer details day of Tabish arrest

Monday, April 24, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

Nye County sheriff's Sgt. Ed Howard testified today that Rick Tabish told him he was with Ted Binion on the day he died.

"He told me that Ted said he was going to take a whole bottle of Xanax and go to sleep and when he woke up his body would be cleansed of drugs," Howard said.

The statement, Howard said, was made after he confronted Tabish and two other men who had dug up Binion's $6 million silver fortune from an underground vault in the heart of downtown Pahrump less than 36 hours after Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death.

Howard took the witness stand in the fourth week of testimony in the Binion murder trial in the courtroom of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

His testimony is considered crucial to prosecutors, who contend Tabish's own words link him to Binion's death.

Tabish, a 35-year-old Montana contractor and Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, a 28-year-old onetime topless dancer, are charged with killing Binion at his Las Vegas home and stealing his valuables, including the silver in Pahrump.

Howard said Tabish, his employee, Michael Milot, and ex-Binion ranch hand David Mattsen were taken into custody at about 5 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1998.

When he first arrived on the scene about 2:10 a.m., Howard said, Mattsen told him that the three men were digging up ammunition with heavy equipment. Tabish, Howard said, indicated they were cleaning up concrete.

Upon further inspection, Howard and a deputy sheriff, Dean Pennock, discovered the 48,000 pounds of silver bars and coins in a large belly dump attached to a tractor trailer, Howard testified.

Howard quoted Tabish as saying, "OK, I lied," after the silver was found in the belly dump.

Nye County sheriff's deputies found love notes from Murphy to Tabish in the Montana contractor's briefcase following his arrest.

In a preliminary hearing in August, Howard and Steve Huggins, a former Nye County sheriff's sergeant, testified that they became suspicious of their boss, Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke the night they arrested Tabish in Pahrump.

Howard testified that Lieseke wasn't acting normal and appeared "very agitated."

This morning, Howard testified that Tabish told him that he was supposed to "take care of Wade" for his help in the excavation.

Huggins, who was to testify today, said Tabish told him at the scene that Binion wanted him to give Lieseke $100,000 for allowing him to take possession of the silver.

Tabish contends he telephoned Lieseke from his cell phone three times on Sept. 18, 1998, to inform him that he was coming to take the silver. He said he was acting on Binion's behalf to protect the fortune for Binion's 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie.

But Lieseke, who has called Tabish a "con man," said the murder defendant never mentioned the silver to him.

Lieseke, who was not expected to be called as a prosecution witness, has said both Howard and Huggins supported his opponent at the time and had political reasons to make him look bad in the silver theft case.

Prosecutors expect to rest their case by the end of the week, and Bonaventure has tentatively scheduled a field trip for the jury to view the silver, which is being kept under tight security at a local storage facility.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.