This is the story of a hardworking, creative and successful Nevada couple who were living the American dream — until it all went wrong, marred by what Erica and Markus Bender allege are ongoing incidents of vandalism, intimidation tactics, lies and outright racism on the part of the COA (commercial version of an HOA) at the commercial center property they own in Mesquite.

The Benders, an interracial married couple, launched their company in Southern California in 2015 before moving their operations to Henderson in 2016.

Erica and Markus describe the early days of building their company as a marathon of late nights, sacrifice and hard work as they pursued their dream of establishing a thriving business. 

Their efforts paid dividends as the business took off and the couple began to realize their vision and dream. By April 2019, they were ready to expand their operations and ultimately acquired a 25,000-square-foot commercial building in Mesquite via a bank foreclosure. Although they knew the expansion came with the risk of possibly losing everything if it didn’t work out, the Benders opted to stick with their commitment not only to Nevada but also to the community of Mesquite. 

In fact, shortly after that commercial property purchase, the couple made another significant purchase of a cinema complex in the same commercial center in Mesquite. The Benders plan to develop a family-oriented fun center there while using the other portion of the building to expand their growing apparel business. With that acquisition they became the single biggest property owners in the center. 

From the time it became known that Erica is black and of Haitian descent, according to the Benders, they felt growing animosity from the property manager and the COA, particularly the board president, who is also the owner of a nightclub in the commercial center.

For instance, according to the Benders, the nightclub owner told Markus: “If you weren’t so litigious, I would smack the fuck out of you,” and “Your HOA fees will pay for our attorney fees, so bring it on.”

He also called Markus “Cupcake” and told him to “go back to California, Princess.” This is all on recordings. 

Before the end of 2022, the Benders had compiled three video recordings made by surveillance cameras in which the nightclub owner tells the couple, “Go home.” 

He also told Erica to “go black home,” according to the Benders. 

“I was told by the nightclub owner, who is the COA board president, and neighboring building owner, to ‘go black home’ while I was in the back of my lot,” Erica says. “He is encouraging people to park in back of our building to intimidate me and my husband, so we’re in fear of going to our own property in fear of any altercation. The nightclub owner/board president gives our security camera the finger. They honk as they circle our building, at all hours of day and night. We feel very intimidated and scared. He is encouraging people to do this because we have a lawsuit against him, and he is allowing them to do his dirty work.” 

Not only have these actions been captured by surveillance video, according to the Benders, but the nightclub’s own employees have told the couple that they were instructed to intimidate them. 

“We have his employee on camera telling us that his boss instructed him to park back there on our lot,” Erica says. “The honking and the circling of our property, it is the board president/night club owner, his employees and provocateurs who are doing the harassing.”

At a board meeting, the president/nightclub owner told Erica, who is also a board member: “Take your ball and go home.”

There were also times that we had to call the police, and even with the police there the board president can be heard shouting at me to ‘go home,’ ” Erica says. “I understood that to mean I don’t belong in the commercial center, I don’t belong in Mesquite and I don’t belong in this country.”

According to the Benders, the community manager as well as the president influenced others to spread lies at city council meetings and on Mesquite social media that the Benders were “planning to establish either a homeless shelter or a methadone clinic” in the center, also stating that the Benders “need to be watched because the town may not like what happens.” There is a recording of another property owner saying the Benders “will bring undesirables” to Mesquite. 

To be clear, there have never been any plans for a homeless shelter, a methadone clinic or anything of the sort. The only plans besides the operations of the apparel company were for a proposed family fun center. 

The board president/night club owner told Erica at a board meeting during executive session: “I’ve been here 10 years and I know everybody in this town, the council, the city attorney, police and city officials — they all hate you, and want you gone” — also going as far to say, in an open letter to property owners, that he has been protecting the center from the Benders.

Meanwhile, the Benders’ properties have been burglarized and vandalized twice, with multiple attempted break-ins, causing their insurance to triple — some of which have been caught on video. The COA board has refused to act, according to the Benders, even denying the approval of security gates that the Benders offered to install at their own expense. 

A person with facial tattoos appeared a few hours after one of the burglaries, telling Benders’ staff: “I hear you got burglarized.” When they asked him how he knew, he replied: “My brother (who works at an adjacent property in the center) told me.”

In support of their lawsuit, the Benders have compiled a massive series of security videos. Videos showing drunks falling down seemingly unconscious, several fights between men who seem to be intoxicated, smoking of drugs & urinating, ALL taking place on the Benders property adjacent to the night club. Please note: the night club has only 3 parking spaces on their property and uses the Bender’s property 100%. Another video of a hit & run of Erica being struck down by a truck while walking in a parking lot at a nearby Mesquite grocery store. This incident took place just one day after she had called the Attorney General’s office stating that she had feared for her life.

“Eight years ago we were struggling financially just to get by and yet wanted to build up this company. We were borrowing money off our used cars to devote to the business. There were times we didn’t know how we were going to pay the bills,” Erica Bender says. “But we really believed in our company and what we were doing. We moved to Nevada because we thought we could have better opportunities there. We never imagined that they were going to try to take our opportunity away from us. We built this company from nothing, and they are trying to take that away from us because they don’t like us and they don’t feel we belong.” 

“We went to Mesquite because we wanted to run our business here. We wanted to do good things for the community, with a family fun center for the town and opportunities to add employees, to create jobs. The reason they’re trying to stop us is not because we are doing anything bad. It’s because of the color of my skin. We just want prosperity for the town and for us.”

The Benders’ attorney, Milan Chatterjee of Milan’s Legal, says: “This is a hardworking couple who are just trying to grow a business, to create jobs and be a positive force in the community. For some reason there are people in Mesquite who want to stop them. Erica and Markus firmly believe that the vast majority of the residents of Mesquite are good people, not racist. I think they’re right. This is a couple who built a thriving business from the ground up. They deserve to be treated fairly.”

Mark Fierro began his career as a reporter/anchor at KLAS-TV, the CBS television station in Las Vegas. He worked at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He served as communications consultant on IPO road shows on Wall Street. He provided litigation support for the Michael Jackson death trial.

He is president of Fierro Communications, Inc., which conducts mock juries and focus groups in addition to public relations and marketing. Fierro is the author of several books including “Road Rage: The Senseless Murder of Tammy Meyers.”

He has made numerous appearances on national TV news programs.