Softball Team in Kentucky Stole over $100,000 Worth of Bourbon

Chances are you probably heard about the infamous "Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Heist" last year, in which a number of barrels of Pappy mysteriously disappeared from the legendary bourbon distillery. Well rest easy my friends because it looks as if the crime has been solved. Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton held a news conference on Tuesday in which he said nine people have been indicted for stealing over $100,000 worth of bourbon over the course of the last seven years. The nine individuals included three that worked inside bourbon distilleries (one at Wild Turkey and two at Buffalo Trace) and together they hatched a plan that involved exploiting each bourbon's security weaknesses in order to take massive amounts of the product. According to the sheriff, all nine met while playing on a local softball team, where they hatched the plan and formed a "criminal syndicate" to engage in the illegal trafficking of bourbon. Over the course of the seven years, they were able to steal bottles and a number of barrels, the conspicuous nature of the latter of which helped bring them to justice. As the sheriff noted, "how many people do you know that have bourbon barrels at their house?" Because of the nature of the crime, most of the bourbon is ruined as security requires all the bourbon to be emptied from the barrels and only the unopened bottles could be salvaged. You can read more about the story below and the lesson from it is clear...the next time you are playing church league softball, check and make sure the opposing team is not hatching a plan to steal massive amounts of alcohol in between innings. Softball Team Caught in the Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon heist