Weyrich living high while employees and brides-to-be suffer
January 19, 2010 7:40 pm
David Weyrich's rental home
By KAREN VELIE
While North County businessman David Weyrich has insufficient funds in his accounts to cover payroll checks and has refused to return wedding reservation deposits, he continues to live high on the hog, CalCoastNews has learned.
Employees of Weyrich’s Villa Toscana have informed couples who made reservations for their 2010 weddings that their deposits of up to $10,000 – in some cases – won’t be returned.
The luxury bed and breakfast spot in Paso Robles, the couples have been told, is to be closed, sources told CalCoastNews.
Jenn Hocker, a wedding designer and coordinator with Allure Event Design in San Luis Obispo, said that one of the biggest challenges these couples face will be trying to find a new venue this late in the (spring wedding) season.
“Even if they have sent out their invitations, they need to focus and pick a new venue,” Hocker said. “A lot of people book Villa Toscana because it is a dream place. I feel very sorry for everyone involved.”
Villa Toscana
Meanwhile, wedding professionals throughout San Luis Obispo County have pledged to offer substantial discounts to prospective brides who had booked their weddings at Villa Toscana.
For example, Vintage Traditions has stepped forward to assist couples who suddenly find themselves without a wedding venue by offering special rates at Avila Beach Golf Resort, Blacklake Golf Resort and Santa Margarita Ranch.
“The community will try to help out those in need with venues, unfortunately, it is a little late in the season,” said Sean Dasmann, Central Coast Wedding Professionals public relations director.
In addition, for more than a year, Weyrich has frequently paid his Carlton Hotel employees with checks that bounce. Employees claim managers at the Atascadero hotel wait until after 6 p.m. on Friday to distribute paychecks.
Employees, aware of Weyrich’s money woes, would race to Santa Lucia Bank on Monday mornings to be the first in line to be paid. Those at the end of the line had about a 50 percent chance that their checks would clear, sources said.
“You would have to be one of the first in line to be able to cash your check,” said Cassandra Hetrick, a former front desk assistant who quit the week before Christmas because she could not afford to buy gas to get to work. “I was warned after I was hired not to put the checks in my account because they would bounce.”
Though she has tried numerous times to cash the last paycheck she was given, she has been unsuccessful.
“I have one paycheck from Dec. 11 and they still owe me another check,” Hetrick said.
Meanwhile, Weyrich has moved out of his former 7,700-square-foot home because of a foreclosure, and is currently renting a 4,300-square-foot, $2 million home on Beaver Creek Road in Paso Robles.
“I think it stinks,” Hetrick said of Weyrich’s opulent lifestyle while not paying his employees. “Compared to the rent of a $2 million mansion, my $600 check is chump change. You have to take care of the people who work for you.”
Weyrich received his investment capital in 1998 when he sold Martin Media for $610 million, a company previously owned by father-in-law Edward Martin. The proceeds were divided up between family members and investors.
During the past 10 years, Weyrich invested in a number of risky business ventures, including a chain of “family-values” newspapers, scores of upscale real-estate developments, wineries, hotels and a jet-leasing business. He purchased millions of dollars in property, jet aircraft and a yacht.
Currently, Weyrich is deep in debt. He owes approximately $60 million to more than 150 agencies, lenders, vendors and individuals, according to inside sources familiar with his finances.
During the past few months, one of Weyrich’s creditors, Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Co., has been attempting to force a public auction of Villa Toscana, Martin and Weyrich Winery, York Mountain Winery and several vineyards to cover a $20 million debt. The auction, already postponed several times, is now scheduled for Feb. 1.
Neither Weyrich nor managers of some of his various ventures responded to CalCoastNews’ repeated requests for comment.
This guy reminds me of a character from the Austin Powers’ movies…Fat Ba……..
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Ha, that would be fat bast*rd, to bad Gearhart already got that part, maybe he can get a chance at the next remake of Flubber!
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Kaabooom!!! what is that they say… umm, ahhh what comes around goes around….
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Monday, Feb. 01, 2010
Weyrich loses Villa Toscana, wineries and vineyards to lender at auction
By Melanie Cleveland | mcleveland@thetribunenews.com
North County businessman David Weyrich lost key real estate holdings to lender Aegon at a public auction today after an unsuccessful attempt at finding a buyer for the properties.
The properties now in Aegon’s possession include the luxury hotel Villa Toscana and Martin Weyrich Winery, vineyards and tasting room in Paso Robles; York Mountain Winery and vineyards in Templeton; and Jack Ranch Vineyard in San Luis Obispo.
Since the late 1990s, Weyrich had invested millions of dollars into housing developments, a jet service, wineries and hotels in the county. But he has been steadily losing ground to his creditors in the last two years.
Martin Weyrich LLC owed Aegon more than $17 million for the properties. The firm had postponed the auction three times since November because Weyrich was working with a private buyer to buy out Aegon’s interest, but no buyers ultimately stepped forward with terms satisfactory enough to the lender, according to brokers and lenders close to negotiations.
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For the life of me I can’t even imagine $200 million let alone figure out how to blow through it in 10 years.
Me, I would have taken that $200 million and retired, lived the good life for the rest of my days.
But Weyrich I guess wanted to be a billionaire. Now he’s broker than I am.
Weyrich is obviously a man of exorbitant appetites and he bit off more than he could chew. It serves him right to be in this mess. He needs to make good on all this or officially become not only the worst businessman of all time, but the biggest hypocrite ever. Catholic my a**.
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An Open Letter to OUR District Attorney:
I have several friends (and they know of more) that are holding bad payroll checks from Weyrich et. al. While I know much of the noise surrounding Weyrich is Civil and that will work through the systems, as you well know, writing bad checks is not civil, it’s CRIMINAL.
And while I have encouraged everyone I know to submit the PAYROLL checks to your bad check program, most are intimidated by the process. Please see the below links and with that – you now know what is going on – again I’m sure.
As OUR District Attorney, I am hoping you take a more proactive role with this and get in front of the story – instead of cleaning it up after the fact. Employees have to be paid and the longer this goes on, the more damages accrue to people who cannot afford it. And all of these employees are wage based (non-exempt) employees.
Please do your job!
Interview from KVEC920am:
Click to Listen
http://drop.io/weyrich
San Luis Tribune:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/1008373.html
Cal Coast News:
http://calcoastnews.com/2010/01/weyrich-living-high-while-employees-and-brides-to-be-suffer/
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Weyrich has some development proposal listed online under county permits for North county-Wonder if this could be his brother? But if it is HIM and he is still building in this situation? THAT should be shut down..
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That’s an old picture of the Carlton. Some of the neon sign letters have been out for a long time … an evidence of …
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Greedy, gluttonous, pigs, all of them…David Wyrich, Hurst Financial, Gearhart…and these just those that got caught. There are many more like them in this corrupt little town of Paso. Newcomers beware! You are their PREY!
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Your right it’s Paso fault that two losers from Atascadero stole everybodys money:-( You are right about Weyrich being a thief but I still don’t think you can put the blame on Paso Robles!
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Fat chance, I don’t think he meant the town of Paso Pobles, I think he meant the city administrators who paved the way for Gearhart’s destruction, refer to previous cal coast article.
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Don’t buy the wine, don’t eat at the dive and line up and picket the place, that’s exactly how one lady got all her money back from Hurst, before it was to late. Organize a rally in front of the Hotel, all unpaid personnel do attend and scream like hell so all the customers will leave!
Think about it an organized boycott of all “Weyrich”, services and products! I bet he cringes when he reads this, hit him where it hurts, in the wallet and to his soon to be creditors, three of you can force him into involuntary bankruptcy, in federal court, S.B.
So there’s the recipe, start cooking his *ss! Really this might work!
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Unfortunately the Carlton Hotel is the cornerstone and anchor for Atascadero’s main street. I used to support them despite their mediocre food (sometimes outright unpalatable) and their powty pussed employees. The fact is that the Carlton isn’t going to survive, so I hope when it goes into bankruptcy it is bought out by someone who knows something about running a hotel business. At the same time at least the proceeds will go to Weyricks creditors.
Does anyone recall the the hummer limo that used to cruise Atascadero and the Carlton when it first opened? Not sure which 400lb butt was in the back seat, Weyrick or Gearhart or both. It sure was a gauche spectacle and I knew something wasn’t right about someone that had a need to flaunt their “butt” like that. It was anything but impressive then and it’s just laughable now
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He is a fat pig, plain and simple. He is very lucky that wasn’t my wedding he took the deposit from. I would get it back no matter what kind of “convincing” it took. I would ruin his day I’m sure.
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Didn’t that former SLO Blues owner go to prison for less than this?
It all depends who you know and how much grease you have…
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As Catholic Christians David and Mary Weyrich need to remember that certain (mortal) sins “cry out to heaven.” From the Cathechism of the Catholic Church:
“CCC1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are “sins that cry to heaven”: the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.”
Take a look at the last one, stop screwing people out of wages/money owed and go make an integral confession. As it is your souls are in jeopardy.
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David Weyrich AM Radio
relevant excerpt from a Salon dot com article “… Weyrich, a staunch Catholic and family man with eight children, has also been active in conservative causes. The New York Times reported in August that in addition to making donations to local candidates for county supervisor and Cal Poly’s Republican Club, Weyrich was part of a group of wealthy Roman Catholic businessmen who started a radio network called Catholic Family Radio.
Sort of like Rush Limbaugh for Catholics, the all-talk format features politicians such as former California Attorney General Dan Lungren and offers a conservative melange of anti-tax, anti-abortion family values. Joining Weyrich in the venture were other wealthy conservative Catholics like Thomas Monaghan, former chairman of Domino’s Pizza, and Peter Lynch, former money manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund.”
John Lynch, Catholic Family Radio’s chief executive (no relation to Peter Lynch), told the Times, “We are trying to stealth evangelize, as opposed to the Christian evangelicals who do hitting over the head evangelizing.”
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Hope the rest of the boys roll in the same mud!
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How does someone lose $200,000,000.00 in 10 years! I feel very badly for those who worked and cannot cash their checks. I had that happen once and it is nothing but stealing the time and services of your employee. It’s terrible that these brides who should be planning the best day of their life are subjected to this stress. All in all if the allegations in this article are true, Mr. Weyrich is indeed committing crimes that should be prosecuted. I don’t understand why some insist on making this a political thing. It is simple about a inept business man committing crimes and hurting people.
P.S. The Carlton has always been way over rated. $12.00 drinks served by a surly bartender and sushi made with undercooked rice. Yeech!
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“For example, Vintage Traditions has stepped forward to assist couples”
Wadn’t Vintidge Tridishins a Cal Coast News sponsor?
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VINTAGE TRADITIONS: The latest CCN sponsor= Santa Margarita Ranch & Rossi Filliponi Wittstrom /Hetrtel/Fowler partners..I hear they are .holding weddings/Huge events without the proper permits or zoning-they are only permitted for non – profit events. Thats great to be able to make a buck but don’t these guys EVER have to follow the rules like everyone else??? No more stories on them anymore though-they are payen the bills-It’s business as usual! Santa Lucia Bank ….where Filipponi sits on the board with Katcho…wonder how they are holding up with Weyrich obligations unpaid? Comes around goes around….
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Jeez Dave, check out your comment. Errant fingers? I know you can do better than that. And what is the intent of your message?
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Just seems like plugs for businesses are showing up in articles here. Vintage Traditions ran banner ads and Meathead Movers seems to get plenty of press.
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Not that it may make a big difference but I would suggest if you don’t like Weyrick DON’T eat at the Carlton restaurant. I ate there once after it opened. When I found out about the business he put under and others that were delayed payment, while he enjoyed the good life, that was my FIRST AND LAST time I ate there. Don’t give the S.O.B. your business. We have other restaurants in area that I am sure would love the business. Just a suggestion.
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P.S. BCP is a troll. Don’t feed the trolls.
I support big and small businesses, as long as they are honest.
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Good suggestion, we should never support people like him, or his businesses.
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To Villa Toscana Bride: I am so sorry about how you are being treated. I am a local wedding planner and I know of a beautiful wedding venue, High Ridge Manor Bed and Breakfast, that would like to help Villa Toscana brides. If you are at all interested, you can contact me through facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/weddingsbysarahangelique
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We are new to the wedding business, but do have a beautiful venue in Paso Robles and open dates this spring. Check us out on http://www.weddingwire.com and http://www.herecomesthebride.com, or go directly to http://www.adelaidacellars.com. My daughter was married 2 years ago and my heart goes out to all the brides and mothers of the brides who are having to scramble. So stressful!
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Not to steer this thing off topic or anything, but if Atascaderans are sick of the sucky Martin/Weyrich wine that the Carlton serves, stop by the new wine bar that opened two doors down (to the south) on Monday night. Nice place. I think it’s called “Haven.” Don’t be surprised to see many of the Carlton’s former patrons are hanging there now.
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Oh …. one other thought.
Where is the DA Shea on yet another fraudster?
Missing in Action as usual?
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Duh, Shea is always missing in action. Maybe he is on Way-rich’s payroll.
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It is not that David Weyrich has fallen on hard times, almost everyone has. And it is not because he was so wealthy. And it is not that he is probably the worst businessman ever – how do you lose $200 million in 10 years?
This is news because he has done un-ethical things to cover-up his huge business failings and acts as if he is owed his lifestyle even if he stomps all over others dreams.
First, he borrowed lots of money near the end, and lied about his financial stability – that’s a crime I think. Then he has his employees tell creditors the bills will be paid on a certain date when he has no intention of paying. He has his employees sign guarantees and keeps him and his family an arms length away. His friends say he has money socked away and he will be just fine, he will file bankruptcy, restructure, and continue his lifestyle.
Meanwhile, small businesses – and large – are failing because they believed his lies and over extended credit to him. His employees and the brides – well you know. And all the while he and his brood continue to live the high life in numerous ways.
So Black Copter Pilot, the issue is when you have cheated others, or even if you didn’t, you should pay your bills, not bounce check to hourly employees, before you purchase expensive toys, rent an expensive home, and generally overspend.
I find it odd your sympathy is with Weyrich and not his creditors, employees, and the brides.
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Oh he has fallen on hard times has he? This stalworth of the Christian-GOP far right has fallen on hard times?
Id like to hear evangelical host Pat Robertson’s take. Robertson suggested that the recent earthquake and the hard times now faced by the Haitians were due to a pact they made with the devil during French colonial rule..
Maybe this logic could be applied to Weyrich too.
Face it Copter Pilot …. You can try and justify it all you want but he is just another north county crook !!!
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Just pointing out the Hypocrisy and that can can from any side of the political spectrum. There are Jerks on the right of us and Jerks on the left of us … Ain’t I right there Mr. Pilot ?
But then again there are some who refuse to see people in there own party as the crooks they really are. Do you fit the bill Mr. Pilot?
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And you forgot to explain why this is an argument . . . . .
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What a low rent POS. I know the house on Beaver Creek I thought somebody had bought it. It’s owned by the old owner of Mission Marine. Another dead business.
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Obviously this is not good public relations for someone who has already taken a humbling slide down the financial drain. In the end, folks in the private sector have no golden parachute to save themselves.
At first , I thought the home pictured above belonged to President Warren Baker of Cal Poly — who I understand it — is being paid this year for work being handled by Robert Koob? To me, this is unconscionable.
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And Dan Howard-Greene, Roger. He’s been doing the heavy lifting for years.
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It continuously amazes me what society has determined is a crime versus bad taste. This, to me, is a crime, and in a non bizarro-world this guy would be arrested, for theft and fraud; while no one would bother with some guy in Paso growing weed. Under the ideals this country was supposedly founded upon, the two situations presented would be seen as a guy who victimized other people, versus a guy who grows a plant, period… with no other sort of irritational issues introduced. And under the same ideals, any government that didn’t play it like that would be ignored by the people. But no, I live in the United States, Planet Earth, 2010, where natural law has lost out to fascist control, where the people would elect George Bush, and then follow it up with Barrack Obama and then have heated arguments over differences that are so miniscule it’s ridiculous. It’s sort of like arguing the difference between two shades of dark gray, while ignoring the rest of the color wheel.
Unfortunately this comment won’t make the slightest bit of difference. Keep in mind the situation described in this article is not the exception, it is the norm….this is everyday life. It’s going to continue to get dumber by the day because people seem to have lost the capacity for truly independent thought, much less the ability to ever admit they might be wrong.
I hope that someone thinks of my words when they go to the polls to vote for their representatives. Elect a non-incumbent even if you don’t like them or their party. We can always change them again over and over until someone gets it right. You also might learn something from someone with different ideas, God forbid. In the process we would succeed in removing the entrenched and corrupt interests that currently controls our minds and our country. No matter how bad the people we elected, the net result would be an improvement. If you decide to vote for any incumbents who don’t see the existing system as almost completely idiotic then plan on an unjust, illogical, and twisted future in bizarro-world.
Yeah, I took this on a bit of a tangent, but seriously, doesn’t the article make you realize how incredibly how retarded the system is. And retarded systems come from retarded people. (Yes, I said retarded, deal.)
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minor edit done by moderator
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Let me start out by saying the David Weyrick is a fat F**K. He is screwing tons of people. He has put at least one business I know of out of business, all the while enjoying his lifestyle.
The part to me that is the MOST galling, is him running around showing he is a member of the Catholic Church. DAVID you give the church a bad name. Isn’t glotteny a sin? How about tithing a mans wages? Stealing? Should I go on. You are a piece of S**T. I for one hope you lose every damn penny. Now I just have to decide who I have more distain for. Weyrick or Gearhart. ARRG. A**holes!!
O.k. I feel better now.
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Last I saw this toad, he probably weighs more than 450 pounds. Needs a scooter to cart his fat a** around.
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‘Family value newspapers’. Yeah, just another right wing crook like gearhead and the hurst thieves. Living large while ripping off everyone around them. Right on BTDT. I wish there was a debtors prison for jerks like these clowns.
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BTDT I was reading this thread to find out if they were in bed together. They sound like two peas in a pod. So I was wondering if they were pals?
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How things change with time, in 2001 American Profile wrote him up as “A Touch of Weyrich Revitalizes Atascadero”
My favorite quote “the only thing I’ve ever failed at is keeping slim.” .
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I will be on the Dave Congalton KVEC radio show at 4 p.m. to discuss this issue. Turn your radio to 920 AM or listen live at http://www.920kvec.com.
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I have spoken to a representative of VT and she is scambling to make things “right”. This is a personnal effort on her behalf for her brides. I have personnally offered discounted prices at our wedding venue to help with this development. We are a B&B that VT recommends often when they fill-up. We are in Paso Robles so it wouldn’t be too much of a transition for the brides.
Cindy Vaughn &Jjim Roberts of High Ridge Manor B&B. wwwhighridgemanor.net Check out our recent weddings on facebook!
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Yes this article is absolutely on target with what is happening. I am one of the many brides being affected by this situation and can attest to the fact that David Weyrich has no regard for his paying customers and/or hard working employees. I have yet to receive a phone call from the manager and/or a member of the Weyrich family as to the status of my wedding, contract and/pr deposit. They have basically enlisted a third-party employee to do the dirty work and she provides no conclusive answers to the many questions and concerns we need addressed. I think its absolutely shameful that David Weyrich has no compassion for the situation he’s put “paying customers/brides and grooms” through and can’t even be decent enough to apologize.
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VC Bride; We at High Ridge Manor B&B are a wedding venue and are willing to help out by reducing our venue prices! Please contact us for details. http://www.highridgemanor.net Check us out on Facebook also.
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Hi Villa Toscana Bride…me and my fiance also booked at Villa Toscana and are now trying to get our deposits back and get as much information about the situation as possible. Please contact me at: tajadib22@yahoo.com if you would like to further discuss the situation or just talk about things and join forces.
-Mike
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