The video shows the suspect casually entering the building
Surveillance footage captured an unusual incident wherein an unidentified man, donned in a cowboy hat and poncho with a mask, burglarized a family-operated winery in Washington state. The peculiar intruder targeted Sparkman Cellars in Woodinville, destroying $600,000 worth of meticulously crafted white wine before making a hasty escape into the woods.
The video shows the suspect casually entering the building after seemingly inputting an employee keycode on the side door around 7:34 p.m. on the eve of Thanksgiving, the New York Post reported.
The video from the warehouse further shows gallons of hand-crafted white wins flooding out of tanks, spilling onto the grounds.
According to KOMO, the wine spilt for at least nine minutes straight as the man exited the building through a back door and made his way into the woods carrying an umbrella.
if you need me i’ll be fascinated by the break-in at sparkman cellars where someone dressed in a hat and mask emptied two tanks of white. the story behind this is going to be amazing pic.twitter.com/8wnT2dxePO
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) December 5, 2023
The King County Sheriff’s Office said that the man accessed the facility through an employee entrance using a code on November 22.
The sheriff said that the suspect emptied two stainless steel wine tanks that held about 2500 gallons in each.
“It just shows this person wanted to hit this winery as hard as [they] could to take the biggest loss that they could,” said Sergeant Eric White with the King County Sheriff’s Office.
In a statement to FOX 13, the Sparkman family wrote, “This is a tough blow for our small family business and was timed to deliver maximum damage right as the holidays get underway. Our team has remained steadfast and focused in the face of this unimaginable crime. We remain committed to delivering superb wines to all our customers and are grateful for the extraordinary outpouring of support from our community of wineries, restaurants, retailers, and wine lovers.”