# Mansion caretaker charged for drinking historic whiskey. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830 "2013-03-24T18:27:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/1 "2013-03-24T18:27:02Z")
The caretaker had some mighty smooth whiskey. 🙂 I’m not too sympathetic for the mansion owner. She should have locked it up after it was discovered. What did she think would happen just leaving it lying around in a house that was being renovated? Good luck recovering the value now. I doubt this guy has a 100k to take. He’s 62 and won’t be working much longer either. I did laugh at the charge. _receiving stolen property_ He received it between his lips. 😛 > **[Caretaker allegedly took care of lots of whiskey](http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/caretaker-allegedly-took-care-of-lots-of-whiskey-4379560.php)** > > GREENSBURG, Pa. - Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips,... > [@](#): > > GREENSBURG, Pa. - Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips, police said, and now it’s time for a man to settle up. > > John Saunders, the former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion, faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner’s whiskey. > > Police said that Saunders drank dozens of bottles whiskey valued at $102,400 by a New York auction house. > > Saunders, 62, of Irwin, was charged with receiving stolen property and theft. [www.wtae.com/news/local/Man-charged-with-drinking-102-000-worth-of-pre-Prohibition-whiskey/-/9681086/19430164/-/dvewv0z/-/index.html](http://www.wtae.com/news/local/Man-charged-with-drinking-102-000-worth-of-pre-Prohibition-whiskey/-/9681086/19430164/-/dvewv0z/-/index.html) > [@](#): > > SCOTTDALE, Pa. —Hidden behind a basement staircase at a Westmoreland County mansion was a secret stash of liquid gold: old farm pure rye whiskey. > > Distilled in 1912 and delivered to industrialist J.P. Brennan in 1917, nearly 100 bottles of West Overton Distilling Company’s pure rye collected dust until their discovery recently. > > Homeowner Patricia Hill surmised Brennan hid the whiskey during Prohibition. Hill purchased the South Broadway mansion from Brennan’s daughter at auction in 1986. Since then, Hill has been remodeling the mansion and filling it with antiques in order to open a bed and breakfast, which she did in December 2012. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/2 "2013-03-24T20:18:11Z")
I dispute the value of this whiskey-I had some 55 year old bourbon recently (from the bottle). It wasn’t any better than recent stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/3 "2013-03-24T20:20:10Z")
I don’t see why the homeowner should feel any responsibility for the crime. Why should he expect a caretaker to steal his belongings just because they’re not locked up? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/4 "2013-03-24T20:40:04Z")
It’s whiskey. 😃 Maids and other household staff have been sampling the rich folks booze for generations. Usually they are smart enough to replace what they drink with water. There’s even a gadget to prevent this. A Tantalus. I’ve seen them on Antiques Roadshow. [![](https://www.antique-marks.com/image-files/tantalus-decanters.jpg) ](https://www.antique-marks.com/image-files/tantalus-decanters.jpg) I know it’s a crime. But that rich lady has exaggerated the value of her loss. Anybody can give an estimate. What it would have sold for depends upon the current market. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/5 "2013-03-24T20:41:45Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I dispute the value of this whiskey-I had some 55 year old bourbon recently (from the bottle). It wasn’t any better than recent stuff. It stops aging once it’s in the bottle. Only the time in the cask counts toward its age. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/6 "2013-03-24T20:47:01Z")
There are some things I still support the death penalty for. This is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/7 "2013-03-24T21:16:34Z")
The first link goes to a pay wall, fyi. I like how in the second link they quote the alleged thief as saying that although he had moved the bottles to clean them, he didn’t drink them. “It probably evaporated,” he says (paraphrasing here ), “besides, booze that old was probably no good anyways and had likely gone bad.” Ouch. Sure, so bad you had to drink dozens of bottles to make sure. This is like the ultimate story of a teen swiping booze from their parents liquor cabinet, then freaking out and dreading the day when they notice. Maybe he figured he’d be dead before they found out. Or that they were so rich they wouldn’t care, or that wasn’t fair or something . Given that he drank that many bottles it sounds like he’s a sad, lonely, alcoholic, old man, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansion-caretaker-charged-for-drinking-historic-whiskey/653830/8 "2013-03-24T21:23:10Z")
I wondered if the various contractors working on the house had sampled the whiskey. Thats a lot of whiskey for one guy to drink. I guess this guy will spend some time in jail. Maybe he can get some AA help too.