One Distaste From Murder

One distaste In Napa, the heart of California’s wine country, everyone wants a slice of that idyllic life as a wine maker living in the center of a vineyard with views of rolling hills and the perfect weather Napa offers year-round. Wall street guys, rock stars, movie producers, tech tycoons and the like are always attempting their own wineries in the area. They see the glamorous side without understanding the hard work and elbow grease along with the know-how to make it work for real. It’s an extremely tough business to break into without having a lot of financial backing to get it rolling. There’s a lot of deals made with the “my word is my bond” style of contracts because you’re usually dealing with some pretty big names. In 2011, Robert Dahl was ready to join the grape race and make his mark on the wine world. He left his mold removal business in Minnesota for the much more glamorous work as a winery entrepreneur in the Napa valley. He had a booming voice and a really strong presence – one of those people like when you’re at a restaurant and the entire place turns around when he talks. Initially, Robert was in the business of buying and selling grapes, which is a way of saying that he was in the lower end of the wine business. He wasn’t making fine wines. He was bottling no-name wine – making what they call, “shiners.” A shiner is a bottle that doesn’t have a label, so he’d sell to companies to put their label on. He was an incredible salesman – he could sell just about anything to even the most resistant customer. So, basically, the wine wasn’t that good but since he was a great salesman, he was able to do ok at it. One person said he had a good line of BS which was fine and made him funnier. He was a charming person that had a personality that worked well for the business. Robert had moved to Napa Valley with his wife and three children. Everyone thought his wife was very sweet and the kids were awesome like their parents. Within a couple of years of starting his bottling business, Robert was becoming quite successful, and he liked to show it. He showed up at his friend, Miles house with 10,000 in cash and told him, hey, we’re buying you that Harley. You pay me back in the next few months or whenever. Robert was never concerned about all his spending. He knew he had the drive to make it. In 2011, Robert took the next big step towards his dream of making it big in the wine industry. He connected with the prince of wine country, Dominic Foppoli. At this time, Dominic had met up with some people from Asia who were wanting to import California wines. Dominic was young and didn’t yet have his own personal vineyard and he needed more product. He couldn’t package wine fast enough because he didn’t have his own production facility and meeting up with Robert couldn’t have been better timing. Robert was still green in the industry, but he was willing to work his tail off to make his business successful. Dominic said Robert was such a dynamic personality, that you couldn’t help but like him and trust him and over the next year, the two became close friends. They would go out to dinner, hang out and as a friend, Dominic said Robert was always there. He could text him anytime during the day or night and Robert would get right back to him; he was super dependable. So, the two partners are hitting it off and business is good. One day, Robert comes to Dominic and says, “what if we buy our own vineyard.” There’s a place up in Dominic’s neck of the woods for sale. So Dominic meets Robert at and they look at the stunning view and vineyards, and an hour after sitting down while drinking a bottle of wine (of course), Dominic says, I’m in, let’s do this. Dominic put everything on the line to invest in the property, even his own home. Dominic was the one who put all his money in and he told Robert, this is something I'm gonna do and I have to go all in and I need you to be all in too. And he said, "I got you." Having known Robert and his work ethic and their close friendship, he didn’t think it would be much of a stretch for Robert. He seemed like a talented businessman. Dominic assumed this was a little side project for Robert who had no doubt that Robert was already doing well for himself. But, almost as soon as the vineyard deal with Dominic was closed, Robert was looking for the next big thing. Apparently, sharing ownership of a vineyard wasn’t enough. He wanted to be the boss. But, to do that, Robert needed investors, which meant new partners. He found just the man he was looking for. A man with connections to Hollywood and a gym bag full of money. BREAK Director and screenwriter, Jonathan Kesselman was shooting the wedding film to a comedy movie called, “Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero,” starring Maz Jobrani. He claims it’s a very funny film. I haven’t checked it out or heard a thing about it, so I can’t speak to that. During the filming, one of the extras in the movie, began a conversation with Jonathan. He said his name was Emad and he was an investor in the film. The two hit it off and they chatted for a while in between scenes. Emad Tawfilis was a young businessman from Silicon Valley. As well as being an extra in the film, it turns out Emad was also the principle investor in it. He had put up about $200,000 and Jonathan became friends with him. Emad was a businessman in the tech world and he wanted to be done with the corporate world. He had made a lot of money and wanted to explore new career pathways and especially things that he was passionate about. One of his passions was film, the other… was wine. Emad invited Jonathan and his wife to his lavish home near wine country. Jonathan suggested they go wine tasting and Emad left Jonathan and his wife use his own bedroom to stay at. (weird) Which Jonathan said was very flashy, like it had one of those tv’s in the mirror that you see at some nicer hotels. I’ve only had one in vegas before. Emad had more than just an interest in wine, it was his driving ambition. In 2011, Emad had gotten to know Robert Dahl and they discussed at length about their dreams of making it big in the wine biz. Robert told Emad that if he invested with him (Robert) that the return on his investment would be big and if he invested in cash, they would be able to get better deals. So, in 2013, Emad gave Robert $800,000 cash… in a gym bag. He jumped all the way into business with Robert without hesitation. Shortly after he had gone into business with Dominic, the partnership had ended. Robert had wanted his own thing and he wanted HIS name on the bottle of his wines. He wanted to make a lasting impression on the wine industry. Emad invested in total $1.2 million to help launch Dahl Vineyards where he could have a hand in one of his passions… wine. Dahl vineyards was a go and it was doing well. Robert was able to repay Emad part his money back fairly quickly. It seemed like everything Robert laid his hands on turned to gold and he was on his way to becoming the big name of Napa like he’d dreamed of. People said he oozed confidence like no one they’d ever met. He was a force. That same year, Robert started up ANOTHER brand new business with a Napa couple named Francine and Greg Knittel. The couple had been pursuing their life’s passions in Napa for years. Francine was an artist and Greg had a construction business that built some of the area’s most beautiful homes and even tasting rooms. They were living a good life doing the things they loved in the area of their dreams. When they met Robert, they too were taken by his charisma and business sense. He seemed like the perfect entrepreneur to partner with since he had already racked up a good level of success in such a short time. Robert and the Knittels started a craft beer brewery that created fancy handcrafted beers. Greg made a great partner for Robert as his construction company built the brewery. Robert promised the Knittels a reputable brewery that they’d be able to hand down to their kids to create their livelihood with someday. The business opened and was off to a good start so they added on a brew pub. Their beer quickly became popular and the pub was always packed. In just a few months, it seemed like Robert’s magic once again rained down on anyone he worked with. The Knittels soon became good friends with Rober and his wife, Janelle. They did everything together as friends and business partners. Robert loved living the high life and the prestige that went along with it. It seemed nothing could go wrong. BREAK So, remember Dominic, Robert’s first partner in wine? Well, here’s what happened before Robert went on another venture. Dominic had been running the winery and Robert had been doing the books during their stint together. Well, they were selling tons of wine, but somehow, there wasn’t enough money to keep paying their bills. Dominic wondered, where’s the money going? That question wouldn’t just be one Dominic alone would be asking. Dominic got a call from his lender saying they were starting foreclosure proceedings on the winery. They had missed their first payment. Dominic called Robert in a panic and Robert’s response was, “don’t worry about that. I’ve got it all covered.” Dominic was like, are you freaking kidding me? He went ballistic. His entire life savings, not to mention his reputation, which is like gold in these parts, were on the line. He had to figure out a way to get out of business with Robert. So he gathered his family and friends and they all agreed to do whatever it took financially to get Robert out of the picture. Dominic took control over the vineyard but he had to pay Robert off to go away. He was crushed. He had brought Robert into his family and friends lives who had opened their arms to him and entrusted him because Dominic did. He wasn’t the only one Robert burned, he left a trail of ashes wherever he went. A winemaker, Steve Burch worked for Robert back when Robert looked like he was going to be the golden boy of wine country. Steve introduced Robert to celebrities. The two even bottled sangria for Adam Corrola called, “mangria.” Steve said they made a little money from it but he knows there was a significant payment that Adam was supposed to receive for it but never did. It kept happening with other celebrities as well. They’d bottle the wine, sales would be good, but somehow the celebs wouldn’t be paid. Then there was Steve himself. He left his partnership with Robert owing him well over $10 grand. The same thing happened with an electrician friend of Roberts. He owed him $15k but never paid. Then there was the Knittels – the couple with the brewery… Just a few months after the debut of their brewery, the business began slipping. It turned out Robert stopped the brewery from making it’s own beer and started buying kegs from someone else. You can’t be a brewery and serve someone else’s beer without serving your own. Then you’re a taphouse. It was pretty obvious the beer wasn’t craft brew. Someone pointed out the discrepancy to Robert and he flipped – because he’d been found out. The Knittles weren’t privy to what Robert was up to. They were shocked when seemingly out of nowhere, Robert came to them and announced he was shutting down the brew pub. The Knittles lost not only $250,000 of their own money, but they had encouraged friends to invest with Robert too. They felt betrayed. But by 2014, Dahl vineyards seemed to be taking off and Robert and Emad were living the dream. Robert was running the business and Emad was providing the money. But like grapes when picked too early, Robert’s partnerships tended to sour. Emad thought he’d invested more than $1 million into the vineyard. Instead, Robert diverted the cash, spending it on his extravagant lifestyle. He had stopped paying back any money he had borrowed for any of his ventures. When Emad became aware of this, he was furious and he called his lawyer for help getting back his money. He hired a Napa private investigator to find out everything he could about his former friend and partner. He amassed a pile of info on Robert Dahl. It turns out Robert had a pile of liens against him. It turns out Robert had theft charges against him in Minnesota. He was actually convicted of theft by swindle. It seemed Robert hadn’t left Minnesota only to pursue his passion for wine, he was also trying to leave behind a sour reputation. In 2014, reporter Lew Purdue had begun to uncover the slimy antics of Robert Dahl in Napa Valley and had started writing a blog about it. Robert Dahl himself responded on the blog to the allegations. His ranting when printed out page after page measure 26 feet long. Robert was being sued and it seemed he had lost his reputation once again. Emad and his attorney devised a strategy to take Robert to court and hammer him into paying up. It was to file a lawsuit in Napa to basically get control of the collateral and make sure nothing disappeared. Stuff like wine tanks, wine making equipment and the like. All the Napa court could do initially was file an injunction against Robert saying that he couldn’t sell inventory which should all belong to Emad anyway since he invested everything. Emad seemed to be making headway in court but Robert was doing everything he could to secretly sell off equipment and moving things like a crook in the night. Without a business to operate, Robert’s lawyers said he was in no position to make any money to pay off the debts he owed to Emad and others. On March 16, 2015, surprisingly, there seemed to be a breakthrough – it looked like Emad might get more of his money back. The lawyers were able to strike out a deal and Emad and Robert were to meet at the vineyard to hammer out an agreement. At the vineyard, Emad and Robert sat down to talk and conferenced in their lawyers. The men had made an agreement on what was going to be paid to Emad and everyone seemed eerily calm. The lawyers were a little surprised with out contentious it had been before. But then Robert spoke up and said… I don’t give a shit what the lawyers negotiated, this is my offer – which was several hundred thousand less than what had previously been agreed to. The deal was unraveling quickly. So both lawyers felt the men should talk further together and call them back after they figured a bit more out. Instead of coming to an agreement, all hell broke loose. There’s a burst of gunfire and the men came tumbling out of the barn they were meeting in. One has a gun and he’s firing. The other man is wounded, running for his life through the grapevines. Gun shots continue as one man hunts down the other. The one being hunted down desperately dials 911. He’s still running even though he’s been shot. The shooter realized he can’t catch his prey so he goes back to the winery, gets in his car, hoping to cut the victim off as he runs out of the vineyard. As the victim gets to the edge the grapevine row he’s running down, he tells 911 that he can see deputies arriving. But, at the last second, the shooter jumps out of his car and shoots the victim in the head, killing him just as the police are arriving. Emad Tawfilis lay on the ground at the edge of his literal field of dreams, murdered by Robert Dahl. Emad was 48. Robert knows at this point, it’s all over. He can’t talk his way out of this one, I mean, the cops witnessed him killing Emad. So, he gets back in his car, drives up a treacherous road with few outlets, leading police on a chase. As the police are almost on him, he turns the gun on himself and kills himself. It’s hard to say if Robert had gone into the meeting with Emad planning to kill him. He had brought a gun to the meeting which, having been a convicted felon, he wasn’t allowed to owe one. And at that final meeting he had brought a document along that he had wanted Emad to sign. A really freaking weird document. It was a manifesto basically saying that Emad was trying to ruin his life. It was supposed to be like a confession from Emad that all of it was a hoax and it was all his fault, that Robert had nothing to be blamed for. So, they think the idea was that Robert pulled out the weird document and demanded at the end of the gun that Emad sign it. Also, Robert may have been planning on going after other former investors. He also had duct tape, flex cuffs, tarp gloves and more than 750 rounds of ammo along with a magnetic gun holder that goes on a car so you could hide a gun. A murder kit, basically. Police think he was trying to figure out how to kill the people that had brought him down. Many assumed they were on that kill list including the private eye who pulled up all the dirt on him, whose name is Dawn King. Lew Purdue, the blogger and reporter with the 26 feet of ranting from Robert. Francine and Greg Knittel, who filed a criminal case against him. Emad’s attorney, David Wiseblood thought he could have been at risk and not to mention Dominic Foppoli. Dominic says back when he and Robert were still partners, he had tried to warn Emad. He told him about the issues he was having but Robert was too good at making people believe he was the one they needed to work with These people all got snowed because no one bothered to check. From the last of the articles I read, Robert’s family is still living in Napa and the old Dahl vineyard is now McVicar Vineyards. Cbsnews.com, 48 hours episode: Grapes of Wrath: A tale of money, wine and murder in Napa, sfgate.com