4,200 Wine Bottles Stolen, Napa Wine Employee Arrested

A Northern California man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing $400,000 worth of wine from the temperature-controlled warehouse where he worked.
 
The San Francisco Chronicle reports 31-year-old Jose Pina was taken into custody Tuesday.

Police investigated the theft as an inside job after about 350 cases of wine - or 4,200 bottles - went missing last week from the American Canyon warehouse in Napa County.
 
At least 55 cases were eventually found at a Solano County barn. Clues from there led investigators to Pina's Vacaville apartment. There they found more of the stolen wine and $73,150 that they believe came from black-market wine sales.

 
Pina was booked into county jail on suspicion of grand theft, possession of stolen property and burglary.
 
Authorities say the warehouse stored bottles from several different area wineries.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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