Nov 17, 2008 11:21 am US/Pacific
Cops: Man Used Back Brace, Velcro To Steal Wine
One Stolen Bottle Allegedly Stolen Was Valued At $3,000
DENVER (CBS) ―
-
-
Sheriff's spokesman Jim Shires displays some of the wine bottles the suspect allegedly stole.
CBS
A suspect is under arrest in what police said was a well-thought-out plan to steal expensive bottles of wine from Denver-area liquor stores and then sell them on the Internet.
The man wore a back brace and used Velcro to wedge the bottles under his coat and then walk out of the various stores without paying for them, Jefferson County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Shires told CBS station KCNC-TV in Denver.
One victimized store, Tipsy's in Littleton, had surveillance cameras that captured the suspect on Oct. 12 entering its room reserved for fine wines, removing three $200 bottles of Peter Michael Les Pavots and placing much cheaper bottles in their places.
In the surveillance video, the suspect then walked down another aisle, knelt down and concealed the Les Pavots bottles in his clothing. He then went to the cashier and bought two bottles of wine for $7.99 and left.
He apparently repeated the crime in at least two other stores.
"I've seen a lot of creative ways for people to steal, but this one really was interesting with the type of apparatus that he had to be able to put the product in," said Reegan Moen, Store Manager of Tipsy's.
Tipsy's spotted the crime three weeks later. A manager noticed his expensive bottles missing, did some backtracking through his sales receipts and realized those bottles of wine had not been sold yet.
Tipsy's staff searched WineCommune.com and found their merchandise for sale.
The suspect was captured on Wednesday of after an undercover officer made a "wine buy."
The bottles of Les Pavots were recovered from the suspect's home when he was arrested. They were among the 85 bottles of wine officers seized, one valued at $3,000.
It's not known how many people purchased the stolen goods from the suspect, but it's estimated he sold more then $21,000 worth of wine in the last three weeks. The 85 bottles recovered from his house were valued at about $11,500.
"If they've already gotten the wine, then it becomes kind of a case of 'sour grapes,' for lack of a better word on this," Shires said.
The sheriff's office isn't releasing the man's name or photo, but they are urging other liquor stores who think they might have been victimized to contact authorities.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments