KENTUCKY - Great Bourbon Theft

aka 'Making Al Capon Proud'

"Crime ring busted for stealing valuable Kentucky bourbon" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In 2013, 200 bottles of valuable Pappy Van Winkle bourbon whiskey were stolen from a locked and secure distillery in Kentucky.  On Tuesday, authorities said they found a bourbon crime ring connected with the heist; nine people were indicted for taking more than $100,000 worth of whiskey, including the Van Winkle.  Jeffrey Brown learns more about the case from Sheriff Pat Melton of Franklin County.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  For some time now, bourbon has been back with a boom.  Domestic whiskey sales are up 40 percent in the past five years.  Some high-end brands, like one called Pappy Van Winkle, can fetch big money, up to $1,000 or $2,000 a bottle or more, depending on its age.

And as prices rose, there was also a bourbon heist in Kentucky that authorities have been trying to solve that has now attracted national attention.

Yesterday, a big crack in the case.

Jeffrey Brown explains.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):   Call it the case of the missing cases.  It goes back at least to 2008 and included a 2013 high-profile theft of some 200 bottles of the much-valued Pappy Van Winkle from a locked and supposedly secure distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.  Those bottles had an estimated retail value of $25,000.

Yesterday, authorities said it was an inside job, part of an organized crime ring, and indicted nine people for stealing more than $100,000 worth of whiskey overall.

Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton has been pursuing this case and joins us now from Louisville.

So, Sheriff Melton, an inside job.  How do you steal so much bourbon for so long?

PAT MELTON, Sheriff, Franklin County:  Well, obviously, Toby Curtsinger as a senior employee of Buffalo Trace distillery.  Sean — Searcy was a senior employee of Wild Turkey distillery.  They both had the access to where the bourbon is stored and both worked on loading docks and in transporting moving the bourbon.

So it was actually — you know, you trust your employees.  And they had the opportunity to do it.  And I think it was a continued pattern of behavior.  That’s why we invited them for working with our commonwealth attorney’s office, Larry Cleveland and Zach Becker.  We indicted them for engaging in organized crime.