POUR decision! Wild moment woman is caught ripping open winery barrels and spraying 60,000 liters of booze on the floor – causing $2.7 MILLION loss
Shocking video footage has captured the moment a sacked worker was caught spilling 60,000 liters of wine in a warehouse. This caused a loss of $2.7 million.
The woman, whose name has not been released by the Guardia Civil, was arrested and taken into custody on Thursday. She was interrogated by police and released.
A trial date is pending, officers said.
The employee had a one-year temporary contract with winemaker Cepa 21 and was told in the first week of February that the contract would not be extended.
The employee disguised her identity by wearing a hooded sweatshirt and entered the winery in the town of Castrillo de Duero in the early morning of February 18. Once inside, she punched in the code for the alarm system, which she did not know was disabled, and activated it.
In February, the former employee of winemaker Cepa 21 was caught on camera sabotaging the tanks at the warehouse in Castrillo de Duero, Spain, releasing 60,000 liters of wine worth $2.7 million. Authorities arrested her at her home on Thursday
The employee was splashed by the wine flowing from the tank and was nearly knocked over
A surveillance camera showed her walking to one of the barrels and turning the valve as wine poured out and she was nearly blown over.
As wine splashed across the floor, the woman attempted to sabotage a second tank which turned out to be empty and ran to another part of the warehouse.
Police said the worker was able to activate three of the five tanks she had access to before fleeing.
According to Europa Press, the tanks hold two of Cepa 21’s best-selling wines, which accounted for 15 percent of sales in 2023.
Cepa 21 president José Moro told Antena 3 Television that they informed the woman of the decision not to renew the contract so that she had enough time to find another job.
The woman was told at the beginning of February that her temporary employment contract would not be extended. So she returned on the morning of February 18 and began turning on the valves of five tanks, including three containing 60,000 liters of red wine.
A fired winemaker employee was arrested in northwestern Spain on Thursday for sabotaging a Cepa 21 warehouse and generating a $2.7 million loss after releasing 60,000 liters of red wine from three tanks.
“The reason for the layoff is that during the high season we have peaks of work where we need more staff,” Moro said. “But in the mid-season we need fewer people, and for productivity and rotation, she was next.”
Moro revealed that she returned to the warehouse shortly after the incident to ask if she could be rehired.
“Why he did it, I don’t understand,” he said. “The feeling I have is bittersweet, on the one hand satisfaction that they caught him, but on the other hand what a shame because I remember going into the winery and seeing all the spilled wine. It’s outrageous. I’m sad.”
Investigators are looking into whether the woman’s boyfriend helped her sabotage the wine tanks.