SEATTLE — Seattle burglary detectives said they’ve recovered a significant portion of the 200 cases of wine stolen from a Seattle wine shop in a burglary 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 Sam Harris and Luke Thesing, who police believe broke into the business and stole the wine worth $648,000 on Thanksgiving.
The shop is in the 2700 block of Fourth Avenue South. It contains 450 privately-rented wine storage lockers.
Both men had rented a wine storage locker at Esquin in October, according to police.
Police said the two men spent 13 hours carting off more than 200 cases of wine.
After taking the wine, the two cut two gas lines in the store's ceiling and tried to set the building on fire.
After the heist, victims and detectives were concerned the wine taken in the burglary would be damaged or destroyed by men if it was improperly stored, but it appears the thieves kept the wine in a temperature-controlled environment.
After the arrests of Harris and Thesing, detectives are still working to determine if anyone else was involved in the break-in.
Detectives are also still working with Esquin to identify all the victims in the case and reunite them with their wine.
Harris was booked into the King County Jail for burglary and attempted arson. His bail is set at $500,000. Thesing was booked into the King County Jail early Saturday morning for burglary and arson, his bail is also $500,000.