CLAYTON — A guy from St. Louis County has been charged in connection with a local wine heist that occurred earlier this week and involved the theft of dozens of bottles of wine, an apology message, and the presence of a priest at a wine store.
Patrick R. Gaffney, age 41, of Bel-Ridge, is being accused of committing two counts of felony theft in connection with the theft of wine from Straub’s and Schnucks grocery shops in St. Louis County, Missouri.
Gaffney was also suspected by police in a brazen theft of wine that occurred on October 18 at The Wine Merchant in Clayton; however, the store decided not to press charges following a peculiar chain of events that made local news this fall.
On October 24, a customer who appeared to be a priest walked into the store carrying a package and stated that he wanted to return an item. He then hastily exited the store after declaring that he would not respond to any inquiries. According to the statements made by the store general manager Tim Jordan to the Post-Dispatch in November, the missing wine consisted of bottles of Sloan Asterisk Red and Bernard Magrez, both of which were in pristine condition.
A handwritten letter of apology consisting of two pages was included in an envelope and duct-taped to the top of the box. It starts with “I am very sorry for my actions and there is no explanation for my behavior.” “I am very sorry for my actions.”
According to the letter, the perpetrator had stolen wine from multiple other establishments and then sold the bottles to people who were eager to buy them.
Gaffney is currently facing charges in two other separate cases.
On Friday, he was accused with attempting to steal two bags of wine from Straub’s market located at 13414 Clayton Road on August 6. The total value of the wine was around $1,620. According to the allegations made by the police, he allegedly made an effort to carry two bags of bottles off of a loading dock at the store, but he placed them down and walked away as soon as he was confronted by a store employee.
Gaffney was also charged with an additional attempted theft on August 6 on December 21. At the Schnucks located at 10275 Clayton Road in Ladue, he is accused of stealing 12 bottles with a total value of approximately $1,160. According to the criminal documents, Gaffney was interviewed by the police in connection with the theft. He denied stealing the wine but told them, “You’re on the correct path.”
Author: STL 420 News
