Jefferson County, Colorado ? The Jefferson County Sheriff?s Office has arrested an adult male for felony theft after learning of his involvement in stealing expensive bottles of wine from liquor establishments across the metro area.  Although the investigation is on-going, deputies from the sheriff?s office were made aware of the theft after the wine manager at Tipsy's Liquor Store noticed the disappearance of three ?highly allocated? bottles of wine.  The store?s loss prevention manager began reviewing store surveillance video and discovered the theft took place on October 12, 2008. 

The suspect is seen on the video entering the store and going directly to the ?wine cave? where expensive wine is displayed and stored.  He removed three bottles of Peter Michael Les Pavots wine, valued at $200 each, and put them in a basket.  He then placed three less expensive bottles of wine in the spaces vacated by the Les Pavots.  The suspect then walked down another isle where he knelt down and concealed the expensive wine in his clothing.  He then went to the cash register and purchased two bottles of wine for $7.99 before leaving the store. 

An undercover operation led to the recovery of the Les Pavots wine from the suspect?s home in Denver.  A total of 85 bottles of wine, one valued at $3000, were seized during the execution of a search warrant of the house.  The recovered wine has an estimated retail value of more than $11,500.  Sheriff?s Investigators have determined the suspect sold over $21,000 worth of wine in the last three weeks via the internet.  People may have unknowingly purchased stolen wine from the suspect if they sent a money order to a seller using the initials ?EMIV?.  The investigation has revealed the web site ?Winecommune.com? as one of the sites used by the suspect.  It is possible he has used other web sites to sell stolen wine as well.

The suspect?s mugshot and the store video are being withheld pending photo lineups.  He is described as a black male of average height, 175 lbs. with long black hair.  Liquor stores who believe they may have been victimized by this suspect are urged to contact their local law enforcement agency to report the loss.

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