Possession of $56K worth of stolen spirits nets 2-year ban from B.C. Liquor stores
Liquor Board employee and accomplice charged in theft still going through courts
A man who stashed almost $60,000 of stolen liquor at his home has pleaded guilty and been given a conditional discharge that bans him from going to government liquor stores for two years.
Kamlesh Reddy, 43, was charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000 after police raided his home in Delta, B.C., in May and found more than 50 cases of expensive scotch and brandy.
Reddy is one of three suspects charged in connection with the theft.
Police had another suspect, long-time Liquor Distribution Branch employee Rakesh Prakash Sharma, under surveillance after the Branch noticed inventory missing from a large warehouse at Rupert and Broadway.
Sharma, 52, worked at the Vancouver warehouse and was tasked with loading pallets of alcohol for customers, according to Crown counsel Jonas Dow.
Stolen scotch and cognac
On May 14, Sharma allegedly loaded a white van with 16 cases of Hennessy V.S.O.P. cognac worth over $19,000, nine cases of 14-year-old Oban single malt scotch worth almost $6,500, and 25 cases of Johnnie Walker Black Label scotch whiskey worth $31,000.
That was just one of five different days that Sharma and accomplice Krishneel Reddy, 35, allegedly stole liquor while they were under surveillance.
Police recovered the last stolen batch and a few more cases at Kamlesh Reddy's home but the rest is "in the wind" according to Dow.
The Liquor Distribution Branch won't say how much inventory was stolen and lost or give a dollar value but had indicated previously to CBC that it totalled over $100,000.
Dow wouldn't specify the amount as the other two suspects, Sharma and Krishneel Reddy, are still going through the courts, but said it was more than that.