A Spanish court on Monday sentenced a couple — one a former Mexican beauty queen and the other a Dutch-Romanian man — to four and half years in prison for stealing $1.7 million worth of wine in October 2021.

The theft took place ​​at a luxury hotel and restaurant in Caceres, located in southwest Spain. One of the owners discovered that 45 bottles of wine were missing, including one worth nearly $375,000.

Authorities went through a nine-month search for the stolen goods. The couple was apprehended by border guards in July while crossing from Montenegro into Croatia.

Priscila Lara Guevara and Constantin Dumitru are also ordered to pay about $810,000 in damages to insurers.

None of the wine has ever been recovered.

Guevara and Dumitru dined at the hotel and restaurant the night of the theft. The pair distracted the sole night shift employee and swiped a key card to enter the wine cellar, according to Spanish court documents.

The pair "showed a high level of professionalism, specialization and perfect planning," read a police statement at the time of their arrest.

Dumitru denied the charges. His lawyer reportedly argued against the timeline and the plausibility of such a heist.

"Forty-five bottles and four towels do not fit in two sports bags and could not be carried so lightly by this man," his lawyer reportedly told the court in reference to allegations that the couple hid the stolen wine bottles in duffle bags stuffed with hotel towels to muzzle the noise of them clanking.

Jose Polo, the co-owner and sommelier of the Atrio hotel, had offered to buy back the stolen bottles in 2021. He said the theft had caused him emotional pain.

U.S. Mexico