Jack Daniels conman jailed

[NeoTexan]

(Highlighted area added by me)

A trickster carried out a million dollar fraud across the country by switching bottles of Jack Daniel’s with tampered ones.

Andrzej Szarzynski, 38, used an elaborate scam to steal more than 400 bottles of Jack Daniel’s from shops Sutton and other cities across England and Wales.

Szarzynski would drill a hole into the lid of a bottle, drain out the whiskey with a syringe and replace it with apple juice or tea.

He then sealed the hole with a cocktail stick and painted it black with nail polish to hide evidence of tampering.

The father-of-two would then go into a shop and ask for a bottle of Jack Daniel’s before handing over a €10 note.

When the cashier refused to accept the euros he would swap the bottles, handing back the fake one and keeping the genuine one for himself.

Szarzynski, who had addresses in Coventry and Speke, Merseyside, was jailed at Preston Crown Court on Friday June 11 for 15 months.

Pinu Patel, manager of a Londis store in Wallington Corner, Wallington, which fell victim to the con, said: “It was a bizarre scam but obviously a profitable one.

“I am pleased he has been brought to justice.â€

Szarzynski was eventually caught in an off-licence in Blackpool and convicted after investigation Sutton Council and other authorities.

The scam was first reported in Sussex and Kent and then in London.

Further incidents then occurred in Leicester, Coventry , Birmingham , Liverpool, North Wales, the Wirral, Manchester and Blackpool before Szarzynski was caught.

He targeted at least 10 shops in the borough of Sutton alone.

The fraudster pocketed £8,000 from the scam but Brown-Forman, who own the Jack Daniel’s brand, spent $1 million in private detectives to track him down.

They estimate that he stole 416 bottles, costing the company an extra £16,000 as they replaced each bottle with two as a goodwill gesture to clients.

Szarzynski pleaded guilty to five charges of fraud, with another eight taken into consideration.

The offences took place from January 2008 to May this year.

Sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Henriques said: “While versions of this type of fraud have been perpetrated for time immemorial, the sheer scope of this particular scam is unique.â€

Councillor Simon Wales, executive member for communities, transport and voluntary sector said: “This was a huge con which defrauded shops across England.

“Thanks to the hard work and diligence of trading standards officers, enough evidence was gathered to put this man behind bars.â€

[NeoTexan]

My bad for putting this in a bourbon thread.....

[sku]

Seems like an awful lot of trouble for a bottle of Jack.

[unclebunk]

Seems like an awful lot of trouble for a bottle of Jack.

[NeoTexan]

My question is the amount they spent to catch the guy..... $1 million!!??

Really? To get a guy that stole 16,000 (pounds)?

[ErichPryde]

My question is the amount they spent to catch the guy..... $1 million!!??

Really? To get a guy that stole 16,000 (pounds)?

[cowdery]

And imagine if Brown-Forman didn't do everything possible to stop the guy and word got out that a mad man was adulterating bottles of Jack Daniel's. Would you keep buying it?

(If you have trouble with the hypothetical, pretend it's a brand you like.)

They could have lost billions.