A British holidaymaker has been arrested in the US accused of participating in an audacious distraction theft of super fine wine from a historic luxury cellar.
Natali Ray could now face as much as 50 years in jail having been charged with grand larceny and other offences after several bottles from the most prestigious estate in Burgundy worth over £30,000 went missing during her visit.
The mother-of-three, from Herne Bay, is said to have posed as the assistant to a wealthy wine connoisseur to distract the cellar’s sommelier while an accomplice is alleged to have slipped six bottles from the legendary Domaine de la Romanée-Conti estate into specially adapted pockets in his overcoat.
CCTV of the 56-year-old’s visit to the US wine cellar obtained by the Daily Mail is said to show Ray – who is believed to have been wearing a disguise including a wig – deliberately distracting staff with her back story about a possible lucrative booking.
The CCTV shows a woman said to be Ray telling the restaurant’s receptionist that her name is ‘Stephanie Baker’ and that she was the personal assistant to a Canadian businesswoman who wanted to host a 25-person dinner.
Discussing this event, which would cost in the region of $20,000, the woman in the footage said that ‘I’ve heard of your reputation’ and claimed she her boss was a ‘wine connoisseur’ before asking to speak to the sommelier Christian Borel.
Ray -who separated from her British husband last year – allegedly asked to see the cellar because she wanted to make sure it was temperature controlled. Mr Borel led the couple through the three dining rooms and into the cellar.
Having taken eight bottles, the man then replaced the missing fine wine with decoy bottles of cheap plonk so that their absence would not be noticed, it’s claimed – leading police to conclude that the scheme had been carefully planned.
This is the moment a British holidaymaker allegedly posed as a wealthy wine connoisseur to steal £30,000 of fine wine
Natali Ray who could now face as much as 50 years in jail having been charged with grand larceny and other offences following the alleged theft
The footage also shows the chase that ensued when staff realised select bottles had gone missing and pursued the man and Ms Ray, who is thought to be from Kent.
Two of the bottles that were stolen, a 2019 Échézeaux and a 2021 Grands Échézeaux were later found lying on the ground outside but six others, collectively valued at $41,500 – or around £31,500 – are still missing.
Ms Ray was held by police in Clark County, Virginia, 60 miles from Washington DC, after the visit to L’Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant in Virginia on Wednesday last week – but her alleged accomplice escaped.
The high end L’Auberge restaurant is set in a farmhouse which dates from 1753 with an adjacent outbuilding housing the extensive cellar which holds 5,500 bottles of fine wine from the world’s most eminent vineyards worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The pair are thought to have visited the cellar by appointment on November 19 and been taken on a tour of their subterranean wine racks by patron Christian Borel, whose family have owned L’Auberge since 1981.
While Ray allegedly distracted Mr Borel with smalltalk based on a fictitious back story, her companion lagged behind to carry out the theft.
The couple had only just left the cellars when the theft was discovered and Mr Borel and his staff gave chase.
They are said to have apprehended Ray as she raced to get in a car but the man with her made it first and drove off.
He is still at large.
CCTV shows a woman said to be Ray telling the restaurant’s receptionist that her name is ‘Stephanie Baker’ and that she was the personal assistant to a Canadian businesswoman who wanted to host a 25-person dinner
The couple are then seen being led through three dining rooms and into the cellar
Ray’s alleged accomplice is said to have taken eight bottles before replacing them with decoy bottles of cheap plonk
Meanwhile, Ray was deliberately distracting staff with her back story about a possible lucrative booking
‘Great wine’ – Ray from Herne Bay, Kent, is charged with grand larceny and other offences in the US and has previously posted about enjoying good quality wine
Ray has now been charged with grand larceny, conspiracy to commit grand larceny and defrauding an innkeeper, according to court records seen by the Daily Mail.
Clarke County Sheriff Travis Sumption told the Daily Mail that he believed the alleged crime was ‘orchestrated and planned’ but would not comment further.
Ray is currently being held at the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center and is due in court on December 3rd.
A mugshot taken as she was booked into cells shows her hair in pigtails as she looks with apparent disbelief at the camera.
The surveillance footage shows Ray walking in wearing a wool coat, a red silk scarf and her hair arranged in a bob, a style markedly different to images on her Facebook page.
The other suspect wore a grey wig, thick glasses and a long overcoat – said to have specially adapted deep pockets.
According to Mr Borel, her monied appearance helped to convince him of her cover story.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: ‘You could tell she was well traveled or knew enough to know the phraseology.
‘She was guiding me away from certain areas, saying we’re not as familiar with American wines so can you show me those?
‘With the power of suggestion she got me to move around the cellar where certain countries were kept, doing so allowed the other man to be out of sight, just long enough to line his pockets with lots of wine.
‘She kept me distracted with rapid fire questions. We were there for four minutes in total.
‘At one point she asked if there were any wines I should take a picture of, American wines, that I should suggest to my boss?
After touring the wine cellar, Ray and her alleged accomplice then returned to the restaurant’s dining room
But moments later, staff realise that select bottles had gone missing and pursued the man and Ms Ray
‘I thought ‘You’re from the UK. I have a bottle from California, The Diplomat, that has a quote from Winston Churchill on the front’.
‘I was just being polite. She even took a picture of it.
‘Right at that point was when the man walked around the corner and that was the signal, he was done doing whatever he had to do. She wrapped up the conversation abruptly, thank you. We’ll be in touch. It was odd because I was literally in the middle of a sentence.
‘I didn’t think she was trying to be rude. They were quick footed, but not running or jogging. She was shuffling quickly.’
Mr Borel claims that the man had difficulty getting up the stairs out of the wine cellar and was apparently unable to bend his body – and he now realises this was because of the wine in his coat.
With his suspicions now firmly aroused, Mr Borel ran back to the cellar and saw the screw-top bottle tops – while estate Burgundy exclusively uses cork.
He ran after them shouting: ‘No, no, no, no, no! Absolutely not’.
Matthew Leader, one of the waiters, also gave chase after the two suspects, whose car was 100 yards away.
Mr Leader managed to grab the woman but the man got into an SUV and drove off as Mr Borel tried to force his way into an open door.
According to Mr Borel, Ray first claimed she had met the other man on a cruise, then stated she had been abducted by him and forced to take part in the heist.
In another dramatic twist, Ryan Dotson, a regular at the restaurant, got into his $200,000 Porsche Panamera 4S hybrid with Drew Chaney, another waiter, to give chase.
But as they tried to get in front of the getaway car they got hit by another vehicle.
As police arrived to arrest Ray, Mr Borel and the other staff found the 2019 Echézeaux and 2021 Grands Échézeaux in the grass.
Ray and the man are seen getting into their vehicle as they leave the estate
Mr Borel can be seen chasing after Ray and the man after realising the bottles had gone missing
The police have now notified nearby auction houses in case the suspect tries to sell the wine but he is not hopeful of its return.
Mr Borel said: ‘It’s so brazen. The cojones to do that, right in front of them, during business hours with cameras everywhere. Are you serious? Of all the ways to steal wine, that’s the way you choose?
‘The sun was still up. I guess they were hoping to get a lot of money.
‘It’s really bizarre.
‘All of us are really scratching our heads. You can find out a certain location has wines but you don’t know where they are kept, and I just can’t imagine you planned this entire trip around getting lucky.
‘There’s rumours they did stop a couple of other places.
‘If they were hoping to hit a number of locations maybe they could make $100,000 but you’d go to jail for a long time if you were caught.
‘After it was all over it really dawned on me all the staff members and a patron all decided they wanted to help, how dare you steal something from our castle, this is our house, you don’t get to do this’.
According to Mr Borel, the licence plate of the car that sped away was a rental car that was hired in New Jersey.
It is unclear if Ray came to the US to allegedly target wine cellars or if she had been staying there for some time, sources said.
She is believed to come from the seaside town of Herne Bay in Kent where she rang a guest house , the Bay View Hotel, for a number of years.
On LinkedIn, Ray says she has a degree in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church University and works as a freelance writer.
She describes herself iner X profile as ‘Writer, Poet, Traveller & Creative. Medical humanities. Poetry in translation. Born in the Midlands’.
She has also previously worked as a teaching assistant at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.
Among the reviews she has posted on Facebook is one for the Comptoir Libanais, a wine bar in Kensington in London, writing: ‘Great wine, great atmosphere’.
She also posted about a trip to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Other posts indicated that she had family in Kosinj in Croatia and had three sons.
She is being represented by the Virginia Public Defender’s office: the Daily Mail has contacted the head lawyer for comment.
Her estranged husband in Kent declined to discuss her arrest beyond confirming that they were no longer to gether.
