Burglary detectives say they’ve recovered a “significant” portion of the 200 cases of wine stolen from a South Seattle wine shop in a heist last month.
On Tuesday, police served a search warrant at a building less than a mile away from Esquin Wine Merchants, which was targeted by thieves who broke into the business and stole more than 200 cases of wine worth $648,000 on Thanksgiving. Following the break-in, the burglars also attempted to burn the business to the ground to cover their tracks.
Following the heist, victims and detectives were concerned the wine taken in the burglary would be damaged or destroyed by the bandits if it was improperly stored , but it appears the thieves kept their boosted Beaujolais in a temperature controlled environment.
So far, police have arrested two suspects in the case and are still working to determine if anyone else was involved in the break-in. South Precinct burglary detectives Damon Deese and Don Jones are also still working with the business to identify all the victims in the case and unite them with their wine.
The owner of Esquin Wine Merchants owner Chuck LeFever, has also provided a statement on the case:
Words can’t express how thrilled we are that the wine stolen from our facility on Thanksgiving Day has been safely recovered. While we are still doing an inventory to make sure it’s all there, the volume recovered makes us eager with anticipation and we can’t wait to share the good news with our customers.
I also can’t begin to express the gratitude we all feel towards the officers, detectives and leaders within the Seattle Police Department for their tireless pursuit of these criminals and the dogged police work that lead to recovery of the wine. Their efforts have been nothing less than stellar.