A former Herne Bay guest house owner has been jailed over an audacious fine wine heist at a luxury American restaurant.
Natali Ray, 57, was sentenced to a year in prison after admitting her role in the distraction theft in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, according to The Washington Post.
Former Herne Bay guest house owner Natali Ray has been jailed for her part in the elaborate wine heist. Picture: Clarke County Sheriff’s Office/Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center
The creative writing graduate, who previously lived with her family in a property she had operated as the Bay View Guest House in Herne Bay, pleaded guilty to grand larceny, possession of burglary tools and defrauding a restaurant or inn.
The court heard how Ray and alleged accomplice Nikola Krndija posed as representatives of a wealthy Canadian businesswoman interested in booking a lavish dinner at the upmarket L’Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant.
Using the fake name “Stephanie Baker” and wearing a disguise, Ray reportedly distracted sommelier Christian Borel with questions about the wine cellar while Krndija swapped rare bottles with cheaper substitutes, prosecutors said.
The stolen wines, from the prestigious Domaine de la Romanée-Conti estate in Burgundy, France, were valued at about £30,000.
Prosecutors said the pair had carefully planned the raid, parking away from the restaurant, using disguises and specially adapted clothing to conceal the bottles.
Natali Ray and her accomplice in disguises during the theft at L’Auberge Provençale. Picture: Celeste Borel
Krndija fled and remains wanted, with authorities believing he boarded a flight from New York to Vienna the day after the theft. Ray, however, was apprehended in the restaurant car park.
Judge Alexander R. Iden sentenced her to a year behind bars, although she is expected to receive credit for about six months already served in custody. Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence, arguing the theft had involved extensive planning.
The case took another bizarre twist earlier this year when two of the missing bottles resurfaced after being delivered to Ray’s lawyer’s office by an unidentified man said to have an Eastern European accent.
But the restaurant’s owners said the wines had effectively lost much of their value because there was no way to prove they had been stored correctly during the 145 days they were missing.
Before moving to Kent, Ray had been raised in Leicester and later started a charity for orphans while living in an area affected by the Balkan refugee crisis, court filings stated.
The filings also stated she enrolled in higher education aged 45, earning a first-class degree in creative writing at Canterbury Christ Church University and a master’s at the University of Kent in 2019.
Her defence lawyer told the court Ray had no previous criminal convictions and had spent the past decade battling a rare blood cancer while continuing chemotherapy treatment during her time in jail.
Dining and Cooking