15-month sentence for man convicted of costly wine theft
A man who admitted conspiring to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of premium wines, including rare vintages taken from the renowned French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.
Davis Kiryakoz was also ordered Tuesday to repay his victims $585,000, which prosecutors said was the value of the stolen wines offset by insurance coverage. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman of San Jose.
Kiryakoz, 45, of Modesto pleaded guilty in December to plotting to steal the wine and to shipping some of it out of state. A second defendant, Alfred Georgis of Mountain View, is scheduled to go to trial on May 1.
Prosecutors said thieves broke into the French Laundry on Christmas Day 2014, while the restaurant was closed for renovations, and made off with 110 bottles of some of the world’s most sought-after and expensive French and domestic wines. The labels included Romanée-Conti and Screaming Eagle.
Kiryakoz admitted shipping 63 bottles of the wine, worth more than $200,000, to a buyer in North Carolina. The buyer soon learned of the theft, stopped making payments and returned the bottles, still sealed, to the restaurant.
Kiryakoz also admitted conspiring to steal 142 bottles of wine, worth $290,000, from Fine Wines International in San Francisco in March 2013, and 29 bottles, worth $32,000, from Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino in November 2014, prosecutors said.
The wine director at Alexander’s, Maxwell Klassen, said after the theft that a surveillance video showed two men in hoodies and masks who cut through chains outside the restaurant, kicked in the doors, and then smashed the glass on the display case to reach the wines, which were not recovered.
“They knew exactly what they were going for,” Klassen said. “They took the most expensive bottles.”
Kiryakoz’s lawyer, Jay Rorty, asked for a sentence of probation without prison time, saying his client had no serious criminal record, was remorseful and was needed at home to care for his ailing mother. Prosecutors sought a two-year sentence.