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Man charged over $400k Napa wine theft
A Napa Valley warehouse worker has been charged with possession of stolen property and burglary after allegedly stealing 4,200 bottles of wine worth US$400,000.
Jose Pina, 31, was arrested on Tuesday after 350 cases of wine – or 4,200 bottles – went missing last week from the American Canyon warehouse in Napa County where he had worked.
The scale of the theft from the temperature-controlled Napa Valley warehouse, combined with no signs of forced entry, led investigators to believe it had been an inside job.
At least 55 cases were eventually found stashed inside a barn nearby.
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Clues found there led investigators Pina’s Vacaville apartment where they found more of the stolen wine and US$73k, believed to have come from black-market wine sales, as reported by CBS local news.
The warehouse stored bottles from several different wineries in the area.
