A former Mexican beauty queen and her partner have been sentenced to four years in prison in Spain for stealing 45 bottles of wine believed to be worth $1.7 million (£1.4 million), news organisation BBC reported.
The incident occurred in 2021 while the couple was staying at a five-star hotel in the Spanish city of Cáceres. After the theft, they ran away but nine months later, they were arrested at the Croatia-Montenegro border and were sent back to Spain, but none of the stolen wine bottles was recovered.
The couple was named Tatania and Estanislao by the court, but the Spanish media identified them as Priscila Guevara and Constantin Dumitru, reported BBC. Tatania allegedly used a false Swiss passport to check into the Atrio hotel in October 2021, according to the court.
Estanislao subsequently joined her, and the two of them dined in the Michelin-star restaurant of the hotel over a 14-course meal before taking a guided tour of the wine cellar.
After that, Estanislao came early the next morning to break into the cellar using a stolen key, which according to the court he had stolen from the reception while Tatania served as a distraction.
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One of the wine bottles that they crammed into their luggage was reportedly worth €350,000 (£310,000). It was a special 19th-century vintage.
The couple was apprehended in July while attempting to enter Croatia after the heist triggered an international police manhunt.
The two apparently made at least three visits to the restaurant beforehand in order to prepare for the robbery, according to the El País newspaper.
Moreover, the pair was mandated to compensate insurers for losses totaling more than €750,000.
The pair will have the chance to appeal their sentences as they are not yet final.