November 16, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SON'S STAGED DEATH: Mother avoids prison for role in conspiracy

Carri Geer Thevenot
By CARRI GEER THEVENOT
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A 70-year-old Las Vegas woman avoided prison time Thursday after a federal judge concluded she had endured punishment for helping her son fake his own death nearly seven years ago.
'I think you'll go to your grave with a very heavy heart,' U.S. District Judge Philip Pro told the defendant.
Pro sentenced Ellen Bennett to three years of probation but said she must spend six months confined to her home.
The woman's sentencing concluded the prosecution of Bennett family members who participated in the staged death of Marine Staff Sgt. Arthur Bennett in February 1994.
Arthur Bennett avoided prosecution on any of the charges he faced, including murder and sexual assault, by hanging himself in July 1999 at the Clark County Detention Center.
In April, a federal jury convicted Ellen Bennett and two of her other sons, David and Scott, of conspiracy to defraud the federal government.
Prosecutors had accused the three relatives of helping Arthur Bennett fake his own death to collect more than $ 300,000 in government benefits.
David and Scott Bennett have begun serving three-year prison terms.
Defense attorney Karen Connolly argued Thursday that nothing would be gained by locking up Ellen Bennett.
'Any prison time, it could be the end of her,' Connolly told the judge. 'Physically, mentally, emotionally, I don't think she could take much more.'
The attorney argued her client deserved a break on her sentence because she committed her criminal conduct under duress imposed by David and Scott Bennett.
'I think she basically went along with what she was told to do,' Connolly said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Rukstele said he agreed Ellen Bennett's case had some mitigating circumstances.
'I believe some of this defendant's conduct was the product of duress,' he said. 'Not all of it.'
The prosecutor argued Ellen Bennett should serve one year in prison. He said she had applied for and received more than $ 200,000 in insurance benefits after Arthur Bennett faked his death.
Connolly argued Ellen Bennett turned all that money over to Arthur Bennett.
Also, Connolly criticized the Marine Corps and its investigation of Arthur Bennett.
'If the Marines had done their job, we wouldn't be here,' she said. 'There wouldn't have been children molested.'
At the time of his staged death, Arthur Bennett was stationed in Yuma, Ariz., where he had been charged with raping the 13-year-old daughter of a fellow Marine.
Despite the pending criminal case, Arthur Bennett was allowed to go on leave. A charred body later was found in his burned-out trailer near Lake Mead.
Arthur Bennett's dental records were missing, and a Navy dentist looked at the teeth of the man who died in the fire and confirmed that they belonged to his former patient. The body then was buried with full military honors.
Authorities discovered the mistake in the fall of 1997, after Arthur Bennett was arrested on a child molestation charge in Hurricane, Utah, under the name Joseph Benson.
Relatives learned that Arthur Bennett's sexual assault victims had included his own daughters and nieces.
Ellen Bennett, her arm around the waist of her attorney, addressed the judge in a quivering voice.