Employee stole $300K in alcohol from Benicia workplace: police

(KRON) — A Fairfield man suspected of stealing more than $300,000 worth of wine and spirits from his workplace in Benicia was arrested on Tuesday, according to police.

The business reported to the Benicia Police Department in late March that one of its employees, identified by police as 62-year-old Richard Meredith, was suspected of stealing. Detectives reviewed surveillance videos to confirm the thefts, authorities said.

According to investigators, over the course of three months, Meredith stole more than $300,000 in “high value alcohol.”

Benicia PD detectives, with assistance from the Fairfield Police Department, arrested Meredith on Tuesday in Fairfield on the 1100 block of Broadway Street. A search of his residence uncovered $22,000 worth of stolen alcohol products, police said.

Meredith was booked into the Solano County Jail for second-degree burglary, grand theft from a building, embezzlement of over $950 and being a prohibited person in possession of ammunition.

The recovered wine and spirits were returned to the business.