California in Brief : Napa : Ex-Winery Owner Held in Fraud Case

A businessman whose winery was linked to a huge marijuana and hashish seizure last year in the San Francisco Bay Area was arrested on theft and fraud charges. Robert Pitner, a former leading partner in the bankrupt Joseph Mathews Winery in Napa, was arrested in Sacramento. Also charged in the alleged scheme was David Hanson, former president of the LendVest Mortgage Co. The state indictments against Pitner and Hanson were the first attempt to press charges associated in the loss of millions of dollars in investments when the businesses collapsed. The mortgage company and the winery went broke after federal agents linked them to 57 tons of marijuana and hashish found weled behind steel panels on a barge. It was called the single biggest pot haul in U.S. history.