Mountain View Wine Thief Set To Age 3 Years In Prison

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- A Mountain View man was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a wine heist that targeted famed Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry. Alfred Georgis, 53, pleaded guilty to transporting expensive wines stolen from Bay Area businesses and selling them to a North Carolina business.

Georgis, who will have to pay $585,715 in restitution, admitted to conspiring with Davis Kiryakoz, 44, of Modesto, to stealing 29 bottles of luxury wines from Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino in the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 2014, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Georgis, who acknowledged the wines had a value of $32,000, admitted he and Kiryakoz made arrangements to sell the wines to a buyer in North Carolina and shipped approximately 17 bottles, worth about $25,000, of the wine to the buyer.

Georgis also admitted to conspiring with Kiryakoz to steal approximately 110 bottles of high-end wines, valued at the time at approximately $549,447, from The French Laundry in the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2014.

They sold approximately 63 bottles of wines, valued at approximately $221,374, to the same buyer in North Carolina, and transported some of those wines in the following days.

A federal grand jury charged Georgis and Kiryakoz with one count of conspiracy to transport stolen goods and two counts of transportation of stolen goods. Both defendants pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and the remaining charges were dismissed.

Kiryakoz was sentenced in March 2017 to 15 months in prison.

--Photo via Pixabay/TryJimmy