Sentence Issued In Santa Clara County Stolen Wine Conspiracy Case

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- A Modesto man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in prison for conspiring to transport wine stolen from multiple South Bay businesses, including one in Cupertino and the famed French Laundry restaurant in Yountville.

Davis Kiryakoz, 44, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Jose in December to the conspiracy count. The federal complaint alleged the total value of the wine stolen from three locations, including the French
Laundry, was valued at $870,000 and that Kiryakoz arranged to ship $370,000 in interstate commerce.

The value of the 110 bottles of wine stolen from the French Laundry on Dec. 26, 2014, was $549,447, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Kiryakoz acknowledged that he and a co-conspirator, Alfred Georgis, 45, of Mountain View, arranged to shipped 63 bottles of wine valued at more than $200,000 to a buyer in North Carolina, according to the
complaint.

The buyer learned the wines were stolen from the French Laundry and refused to make further payments to the conspirators, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Kiryakoz also admitted arranging to ship 17 bottles of wine worth $25,550 that were stolen from Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino, and conspiring to steal about 29 bottles of wine worth $32,000 from the
steakhouse in November 2014, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said Kiryakoz also admitted conspiring to arrange the theft of wine valued at $290,000 from Fine Wines International in San Francisco in March 2013, and that he shipped wine worth $127,755.

Kiryakoz was indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 2, 2016, on one count of conspiracy to transport stolen goods and the additional offenses related to the conspiracy charge, prosecutors said.

In addition to the 15-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman sentenced Kiryakoz to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $585,716 in restitution, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons said.

A trial date for Georgis is scheduled to be set on May 2, Simmons said.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock