US police pursue the ‘Bordeaux Bandit’

Police in New York and New Jersey are seeking to arrest a man alleged to have stolen a 1990 Pétrus, 2005 and 2010 Mouton Rothschilds, a 2009 Lafite Rothschild and several bottles of Opus One in separate thefts.

Scott Deluca is accused of committing a string of fine wine thefts over a period of several months in the US (Photo: NYPD)

A 25-year-old man named as Scott Deluca has outstanding warrants for his arrests in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in connection with several thefts of a string of some of the world’s finest wines reported to have occurred over the past 12 months.

Deluca was arrested in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on unrelated charges last week and was still in custody on Tuesday this week, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

New Jersey prosecutors came up with the name the Bordeaux Bandit after the theft of a 2009 Château Lafite Rothschild and 2010 Château Mouton Rothschild – valued at $1,400 (£971) and $999 (£693), respectively, from Gary’s Wine & Marketplace in Bernardsville, New Jersey, in autumn 2015.

Deluca was also identified by police in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey last summer in connectino with the theft of a bottle of 2001 Château Mouton Rothschild, valued at $500 (£347), from a wine shop called Woodcliff Lake Wine and Liquors.

Deluca was also named as a suspect in another incident at Gillette Ridge Wines and Liquors in Bloomfield, Connecticut, according to the town’s police department.

The shop manager described a man who “smelled really bad” entering the store in August asking for a bottle of Château Margaux before attempting to walk out with a bottle of M Étain, the second label of cult Napa winery Scarecrow.

Deluca has also been charged with the theft of a bottle of 1990 Château Pétrus, valued at $4,800 (£3,329), from the Octagon restaurant in Connecticut, the WSJ reported.

The suspect is due in court in Rhode Island next week.