Sand pit dispute continues in court

Kim Smith

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

One of the men accused in a torture-extortion plot along with Rick Tabish is taking his battle with the alleged victim to court.

Authorities believe John Joseph, Rick Tabish and Steven Wadkins participated in a scheme to torture Leo Casey so he would turn over his interests in a Jean sand pit and acknowledge that he embezzled money from them.

Tabish and his girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, were convicted in May of first-degree murder in the death of gambling figure Ted Binion, and police believe Tabish killed Binion so he could keep the sand pit operating.

Tabish also was convicted on charges relating to the extortion plot and is awaiting sentencing on those charges. Joseph and Wadkins are awaiting trial.

On Wednesday, court documents were filed asking a district judge to give the title of the sand pit over to Dakota West Inc., a company whose president is Joseph.

Dakota West attorney T. James Truman said Casey, as president of Aggregate Materials Corp., sold the sand pit title to Dakota West without gaining the permission of the corporation and its members.

As a result, there is a dispute over the validity of the title that needs to be cleared up by a judge, Truman said.

According to court documents, Casey sold the title to Dakota West in November 1996 for $350,000, plus 10 percent interest per year. In addition, the company was to receive a production royalty of 25 cents per ton of material shipped from the property for the life of the claim.