SHOCKING footage shows the moment an alleged British bandit runs an elaborate £30,000 wine heist at a historic US wine cellar.
Natali Ray, 56, faces up to 50 years in jail for her alleged role in the audacious daylight robbery.
Ray is said to have deliberately distracted the staff at the cellar of L’Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant, Virginia, while an accomplice swiped the wine.
On November 19, she allegedly used a fake name to pose as the assistant of a wealthy Canadian businesswoman.
The fine wine that was taken came from Burgandy’s legendary Domaine de the Romanée-Conti estate – it’s said to be worth around £31,500.
Under the alias “Stephanie Baker” and wearing a disguise, Ray claimed that her boss was a “wine connoisseur” who was looking to host a 25-person dinner.
CCTV footage shows a woman who police allege to be Ray, telling the receptionist: “I’ve heard of your reputation”.
She then asked to talk to the sommelier Christian Borel, claiming she needed to see the cellar, to check that it was temperature controlled.
Cameras show that Borel led Ray and another man through several dining rooms to the cellar – where the shocking theft took place.
Ray, originally from Kent, apparently distracted sommelier Borel with more small talk about her made-up event.
Borel told The Mail that she asked him questions about American wines, guiding him away from certain areas of the cellar.
The man then slipped eight bottles from the cellar into his long woolen coat, said to have specially adapted deep pockets to help him conceal the swag.
He replaced the fine wine with decoy bottles of cheap plonk – but there was a flaw in the plan.
Borel says that Ray “wrapped up the conversation abruptly” when he was “in the middle of a sentence”, saying that she would be in touch.
On the way out, the sommelier said the pair had been “quick footed, but not running or jogging. She was shuffling quickly”.
But his suspicions were aroused when the man seemed to be having a hard time getting up the stairs – he now knows this was because the coat was laden with stolen goods.
Borel sprinted back to the cellar and discovered the critical error in the pair’s plan.
The bottles which the man had used to replace the posh wine had screw-tops, whereas the ones he had taken had corks.
Borel ran after the alleged thieves, yelling: “No, no, no, no, no! Absolutely not.”
Another waiter, Matthew Leader, also joined the chasebut the suspects’ SUV was just 100 yards away.
Leader grabbed hold of the female bandit, but the man escaped his clutches and made it to the car.
The escapee drove off as Borel unsuccessfully tried to force his way into the car’s open door – yet, the chase wasn’t over yet.
In a dramatic twist, restaurant regular Ryan Dotson jumped into his $200,000 Porsche with Drew Chaney, and raced after the thieves.
The car chase was short-lived, as Dotson’s flash car was hit by another vehicle while trying to get in front of the getaway car.
Ray was arrested, but the man got away and is still at large.
He was last seen wearing a grey wig, thick glasses and the long coat which helped conceal the fancy booze.
Two of the stolen bottles, a 2021 Grands Échézeaux and a 2019 Échézeaux were found dumped on the ground outside, but the six others are still missing.
The missing bottles are valued at a whopping £31,500.
Borel called the theft “brazen”.
He said: “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.”
Police think the crime was carefully “orchestrated and planned” – the pair had allegedly visited the cellar for a tour the week before the heist.
Brit bandit Ray was charged with grand larceny, conspiracy to commit grand larceny and defrauding an innkeeper, court documents show.
The 56-year-old is being held at Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center in Virginia.
She is due to appear in court on December 3.