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 wine was recovered in good condition. Police say the men rented a temperature-controlled storage area less than a mile from where they stole it.
Esquin owner, Chuck Le Fevre, was relieved the wine was found.
“I was so excited when I was going over to check the wine out, I was shaking and I haven’t done that in a while,” said Le Fevre Wednesday night.
“There was a big enough pile there and they were confident they got most of it. And it looks to me they got most of it based on what we know about the heist,” he added.
After having to call his customers to tell them the wine was gone, on Wednesday he called them back. Le Fevre says the thieves targeted 15 victims and “cherry picked” the wine they wanted.
They didn’t clear out entire lockers. He says they focused on wine from France and Italy-- wine they knew they could re-sell. He said the theft sounded more like a move. “This was something out of “Ocean’s 11.” The plan was extremely elaborate, well planned- fortunately, poorly executed,” said Le Fevre.
Esquin 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.
The men will be arraigned on the charges Dec. 19. Seattle detectives are working with investigators in San Francisco to see if the men are responsible for a wine heist in California last Spring.
KIRO
