The French Laundry Wine Burglars Have Been Apprehended

Remember when thieves heisted $300,000 worth of premium wine from The French Laundry, on Christmas Day of 2014? Well, first they found the wine (in Greensboro, North Carolina, of all places) and now they've got the alleged perpetrators: Alfred Georgis, 53, of Mountain View and Davis Kiryakoz, 44, of Modesto.

The two men were arrested Wednesday and each charged with one count of conspiracy to transport stolen goods and two counts of transportation of stolen goods. The men were also connected to the theft of 142 bottles stolen from a SF wine merchant in 2013, and 39 bottles of wine from Alexander's Steakhouse in November of 2014, leading up to the French Laundry rip-off of 70 bottles. The French Laundry's treasure trove included bottles of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (some valued at $15k each), as well as older vintages of Screaming Eagle, and Dom Perignon.

While TFL's goods were returned in January 2015, Alexander's bottles (which included irreplaceable bottles of wine like Château Lafite and Château Margaux) are still MIA; no word on if any was recovered when the suspects were apprehended. And according to FBI spokesperson Prentice Danner, the thefts could be part of a larger ring of wine thefts.

If the men are convicted, each faces a $250,000 fine and maximum sentence of ten years in prison.