Interviewer: I know that (CCA Newsletter for November) might have been a little abrasive, but I thought there was a story that needed to get out.
Calvin: I didn't take it offensively, but I did note that there were some discrepancies.
Interviewer: Maybe I can correct those discrepancies.
Calvin: You said that Dougherty had chosen me, and he never chose me. The way I met Dougherty was in a trial with Christopher Boyce, Dougherty was his Attorney. He was in southern California when my brother and I and my wife started Dredge Masters Associates. I contacted him first, but after he saw how the company was progressing, he wanted not only a piece of it, I guess he decided to take it over.
Interviewer: Do you believe Dougherty was a (CIA) asset when he was the lawyer for Christopher Boyce?
Calvin: I believe so, but I don't know that for a fact.
Interviewer: so he was a criminal attorney?
Calvin: He was a criminal attorney in the TRW, so called spy trial of Christopher Boyce. He was also the criminal trial attorney in the escape trial and bank robbery trial of Christopher Boyce in Boise, Idaho.
Interviewer: Do you believe he wasn't putting up the best defense?
Calvin: I believe he was putting up a defense, but at the same time was acting as damage control. I think if you talk to Christopher Boyce, that he would probably relate the same feeling. I think he's in Wisconsin, the last time I talked to Chris, he was in the hole in Marion.
Interviewer: How did (DEA Special Agent) Thomas Sheehan entered in ( to Dredge Master's Associates)?
Calvin: Sheehan showed up around July 15th, 1987 as close as I can remember, at McAvory yacht harbor in Pittsburgh, CA.. We already had a falling out (between Dougherty and the Robinsons) and a matter in civil court in southern California at that time. I knew of no connection between Thomas Sheehan and William Dougherty. I didn't know Thomas Sheehan was the person I was talking to until late in my criminal trial when I had government agents identify his picture on the witness stand. That was the first time I know that the person I thought was Mari Wright was Thomas Sheehan.
Interviewer: What happened on December 12 for the recursal hearing?
Calvin: I was never taken to court, I'm still trying to find out what happened myself. The proceeding would have been in U.S. District Court before Judge Vukasin. My daughter was told that it was put off until January 24 - Then I got a pleading from the U.S. Attorney - in this pleading they said the matter had been put off until January 13. Judge Vukasin doesn't have motion hearings on a Monday. I had a writ of habeas corpus a testificanum requested, which means I should have been taken to that hearing. I also have before that court a motion for court appointed counsel, and they have stonewalled me on that since early January of 1991. This case is a civil action involving $292,000.00 that the government seized from me to prevent me from getting counsel. It was put before Judge Vukasin, as if it was a related case. But in my motion, I told the court that Vuskasin was a witness in this case, there was a conflict of interest, and there was no way he could hear the case, but they did it anyway.
Interviewer: I was wondering what you were in jail for when you shared a cell with Christopher Boyce.
Calvin: I was in there for possession of counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. This is a long story.
Interviewer: What is your sentence now?
Calvin I have no sentence. The conviction still stands, the sentence has been vacated. I'm also scheduled to be resentenced by the same Judge Vukasin, I believe on January 24.
Interviewer: Isn't it a bit unusual to tow something that far, from 1200 miles off shore to San Francisco Bay?
Calvin: No it wasn't unusual, the government would have you believe that, but it's done every day by someone. I had a barge sitting and I had a tug boat sitting, to me that's steel sitting, not bringing in money. It costs insurance on it, and it costs money to have it. so you put it to work. This guy Sheehan, who used the name Mark Wright, came up with a contract which involved carrying parts and supplies to his "Survey" vessels.
Interviewer: Were those the same "Survey" vessels in Hawaii too?
Calvin: No they were not. The government has said that in an affidavit, but they were not.
Interviewer: Do you have a lawyer?
Calvin: Yes, his name is Allen Dressler, a San Francisco attorney. He was court appointed by Vukasin.
The San Francisco Chronicle had a headline Nov. 11 1988: DRUG - TUG CASE AGENT REBUKED - JUDGE BLASTS PROBER FOR TOUGH TACTICS.
The customs agent who broke the Napa "drug tug" hashish case was given a scolding by the federal judge for threatening witnesses in an attempt to coerce their cooperation.
"What in heaven's name did you think you were doing?" asked the U.S. District Judge. She proceeded to tell the agent that threatening a witness is against the law. Apparently the agent Norman Wood told one couple that he would send them to prison for 10 years and they should talk if they wanted to see their two girls. He also told Wesley Bastin's wife she would lose custody of her daughter if she did not cooperate. Guy Gregor Smith and David McNeill Morse the attorneys for the intimidated individuals asked the Judge to dismiss the grand jury subpoenas. Judge Patel refused, but suggested that defense attorneys could seek dismissal of the charges against the five men arrested aboard the Intrepid Venture based on Wood's misconduct.
Now we knew who Calvin Robinson was and we looked for Mathew Martenyi and the two Swedish men. There was nothing available on them aside from the reference to them in the Florida papers. Sonia Vacca, referred to as the Iranian business woman was not a mystery. Sonia and John had known each other since the early 70s. John, Sonia and her husband at the time had started a hydroponics business in the 70s. They manufactured and sold the equipment and the fertilizer for indoor growing. john had long ago abandoned the equipment part of the business, but had retained the fertilizer manufacturing component. Sonia was no longer involved. When Nancy and I visited John and Naomi in Hawaii in 1993, John said he really hadn't seen Sonia for some years. I assumed they were no longer in contact. John and Claude Duboc had known each other for years. Claude was an American citizen born to French parents in the United States and thus held duel citizenship. He had homes in France and his family had been in the silk business.
There was another name mentioned in the Robinson case that I thought may be important and that was Thomas Gary Smith aka Thomas Gary Vance. He was the mysterious caller that was mentioned in the newspaper reports of the "Drug Tug" case. When a search was done on his name - IT ALL APPEARED.