British woman faces 50 years in US prison after allegedly stealing 6 bottles of wine on vacation
A British woman is facing a potentially decades-long prison sentence for her alleged role in a plot to steal several bottles of luxury wine.
Natali Ray, who has reportedly never been in any trouble with the law before, appeared in court in Clark County General District Court in Virginia this week, swapping out the disguise that she donned for the alleged wine heist for a prison jumpsuit.
To be clear, we're not talking about swiping a couple of $5 bottles of plonk from the supermarket here - the wine in question was worth tens of thousands of dollars.
In fact, the wine was worth approximately $42,000, so it's safe to say that this is definitely not your average everyday drinking wine.
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If convicted, Ray could face a very long prison sentence in the US for her alleged role.
Mom-of-three Ray, 56, is originally from the seaside town of Herne Bay in Kent, in the south of the UK.
The theft involved her posing as an employee of a wealthy Canadian businessman who was looking to purchase some expensive wine, even donning a disguise to appear more convincing.
They had been targeting six bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a small and highly sought-after vineyard in Burgundy, France.
The vineyard produces around 5,000 bottles of its highly prized pinot noir each year, and the bottles frequently sell for thousands of dollars.
CCTV footage obtained by the Daily Mail shows a woman, who gives the name 'Stephanie Baker', entering the L'Auberge Provencale Inn & Restaurant on 19 November and asking to see the wine cellar as she wanted to check that it was climate-controlled.
The restaurant felt this was a reasonable request, and they showed her and another suspect the cellar, which contained some seriously expensive bottles of wine.
One of the restaurant's co-owners, Celeste Borel, said: "We've been collecting wine for decades, and we're very proud of it. We love showing people our wine cellar, it's one of the most special parts of who we are."
Sommelier Christian Borel explained how the pair had tried to dupe the restaurant, allegedly pretending to ask questions about the collection to conceal their real goal.
He said: "If they had asked directly for the Domaines de la Romanee-Conti, it would have been a red flag. So instead she was asking me things like, 'Is this all your French wine? Where is the American wine?'"
While in the cellar, the pair allegedly concealed the wine in a specially adapted pocket in her companion's coat.
After being arrested at the scene, while her companion escaped, Ray tearfully claimed that he had been someone she had met on a cruise.
Ray has been charged with grand larceny, conspiracy to commit grand larceny, and defrauding an innkeeper and could face up to 50 years in prison.
Kit Roberts