"It is actually a very sad situation but whats done is done and we must continue moving forward."
You have got to be kidding me. First of all, this is not done by even the most insane and deranged stretch of the imagination as there is ongoing litigation over my collection in which you are involved, having been served the lawsuit and your attorney having answered it and a preliminary hearing date having been set. This is just getting started.
And then there's this: "We want to respect the vintage computer hobbyist." Yes, you want to respect the vintage computer hobbyist in as far as they have money to give you in exchange for stolen property. But as far as the actual owner, SCREW THAT GUY. If you had any respect for the "vintage computer hobbyist" then you would never have become an accessory to the theft of my collection in the first place. You knew full well what the deal was after I spent 45 minutes in your parking lot BEGGING Glenn to let me take my stuff back, offering the money that I had to buy it back, offering whatever I could, but all he saw was great big $$$ in his eyes and could hardly care less about my plight or the facts surrounding it.
"Not one item has been thrown away, shredded or mishandled."
Bullshit. You don't even know what you already discarded. There were a lot of artifacts that you had no idea what they are and may already be lost due to your ignorance. In fact, you may have already thrown out or recycled items that you considered "junk", like my shelving, which I purchased from Mike Quinn Electronics in San Leandro, and which before that were used by Godbout/Compupro when they shared space with MQE in the quonset hut at Oakland Airport. Those shelves still even had Godbout product stickers on their edges, specifying what products were stored on that shelf when Godbout was operating. That shelving, junk to your untrained and ignorant eye, were treasured artifacts to me, and I was proud to be able to store my vintage computer artifacts on shelving that was once used by a company that produced the very artifacts I was curating and preserving. What else did you throw away or scrap as junk that your ignorant, untrained eye, blinded by dollar signs, was not able to discern? Just because you illicitly acquired the largest privately held collection of vintage computers on the planet did not suddenly make you a vintage computer expert. It did not transfer the 25 years of experience I accumulated from assembling that collection, piece by piece, carload by carload. You shit all over my work and then have the temerity to act like you have the utmost respect for the hobby that I helped to establish through the Vintage Computer Festival. You are unbelievable.
"Also I want to assure that all material in our warehouse was brought here in a legal fashion."
Again, BULLSHIT. You were served with my affidavit that laid out the facts of the absolutely criminal behavior in which the Erardis acted. Everything is here, including all my letters to the Erardis laying out explicitly how they were violating my rights and the law:
http://vintagetech.com/download/lawsuit/
I told you the complete story of how my property ended up in your hands, but you let your greed be your guide. Instead of returning the property to its rightful owner when you had the opportunity, you chose take the crime and run with it, all the way to the bank in fact. You compounded the crime by perjuring yourself in open court stating that it cost you $61,000 to move 200 already wrapped pallets of material 3 miles across town. I had already moved 50 pallets to my new warehouse on a budget of under $1,000. Did you hire a celebrity workforce to move my stuff? I saw your crew, they looked like a bunch of the typical denizens of Stockton and I doubt you pay any of them more than ten bucks an hour. How did you come to $61,000, a number which the judge at the injunction hearing specifically referenced and was material in his decision to deny me a TRO? You lied. You lied because you knew if you didn't it would be your ass on the line along with the Erardis'. You colluded with their attorney to deprive me of my property and rights, and you did it purely out of greed.
And you speak as if this is something that had to happen--"we have to do what we have to do"--which is pure unadulterated horseshit. I gave you the opportunity to correct the wrong that you were committing. I begged and pleaded with you for over 45 minutes to let me recover my property, but you refused, deferring instead to your lusts and greed.
Now you have 175 pallets of material taking up space in your warehouse, allegedly costing you money to store. If you were rational you would seek to remove that cost from your hands as quickly as possible since you made the expense of storing the collection such a big deal at the TRO hearing. You could effectuate a perfect scenario by returning my property to me, righting a wrong that you committed and eliminating an expense from your business. Instead, you seek to profit from your illicit gains, which speaks volumes of your true intent. Then you come here, the only place on the internet where you might have a receptive audience for your lies, to spew further insult and denigration at the 25 years of my life that I devoted to assembling and curating what was once not just the most impressive private collection of vintage computing artifacts on the planet but one of the most impressive collections of all time. You just loved the fact that you could claim ownership to it. In Exodus 20:17, God commanded: “You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” You broke God's Law. I don't know what God has in store for you, but in this world, on this plane of existence, it is my wrath you're going to deal with. You can begin to mitigate this by instructing your attorney to contact me and let me know when I can come retrieve what remains of my property that hasn't already been disposed. That would be a good first step and would demonstrate actual sincerity behind your words. But actions speak louder than words, don't they? And from what we've witnessed so far, there is a disconnect between your words and your actions.
I strongly recommend you instruct your attorney to contact me and begin settlement discussions. Otherwise, when this plays out to its ultimate end, either I will be owning Tri-Valley Recycling, or it will cease to be a going concern in California. This is a promise, from me to you, witnessed by all those who read these words. Call a bookie, because you can bet on it.
And to all those who have been purchasing parts of my collection: know that you will be required to send it back. TVR will be required to recall everything of mine that went out their door. What can't be recovered will be compensated for, but if it can be returned it will, under court order. Anyone who thinks this is all just going to be water under the bridge doesn't understand what has happened here. This is not just going to go away. Everyday this continues is another punch to my face while my hands are tied behind my back. Once I'm done dealing with the bank trying to steal my house through an unlawful foreclosure all my attentions will be turned back to this matter. If it wasn't for the fact that I was kicked while I was already down then this would not have gotten to where it is. But as you said, what's done is done. But what isn't done is yet to come, and I hope you have the sense to act now in honor and integrity before that time comes when you will be paying seven-fold the price for your ugly transgression.
The ball is in your court. Let's see how you play.
