The State - News from June 16, 1988

A federal grand jury in San Francisco has charged the partner in a Napa winery and two officers in a mortgage firm with conspiracy and money laundering in connection with an alleged hashish smuggling ring. Robert Pitner, managing general partner of Joseph Mathews Winery in Napa; David Hanson, former president of LendVest Mortgage Co., and David Dickson, the most recent president of LendVest, were charged with participating in a scheme to import $189 million worth of hashish and marijuana on a tugboat-drawn barge. The 12-count indictment also named LendVest and Dredge Masters Associates as the two firms used for the purpose of laundering $700,000. The indictment also added money laundering and conspiracy counts to charges already lodged against the tugboat skipper, Calvin Robinson. The boat was seized in May in San Francisco Bay with a record haul of 43 tons of hashish and 13 tons of marijuana aboard a barge it was towing.