Former Caretaker Denies $102K Whiskey Binge

A former caretaker accused of drinking more than $100,000 worth of whiskey denies the accusation and posits the pricey tipple instead simply evaporated — despite some compelling evidence to the contrary.

As The Inquisitr reported earlier, the man accused of drinking six figures of expensive whiskey, John Saunders, claimed he didn’t consume anything from the valuable stash of booze. A tenant of homeowner Patricia Hill, Saunders was believed to have been responsible for reducing the stash by about half and defacing some bottles:

“Hill’s 60-year-old tenant has been charged with drinking $102,000 worth of the whiskey she discovered buried in her basement. Saunders told police that he only moved the crate around while he was cleaning. He initially denied drinking the whiskey and removing some of the labels.”

Saunders has been charged with receiving stolen property and theft in the case of the “evaporated,” Prohibition-era rye whiskey — but the caretaker and decades-long friend of the Hill family says the case is all a misunderstanding.

Saunders suggests the whiskey would have been undrinkable anyway, and stated outside court Wednesday:

“Yuck! That stuff had floaters in it and all kind of stuff inside the bottles. … I don’t think it would even be safe to drink … The charges are totally false and I plan to fight it.”

The caretaker and accused whiskey bandit added:

“I moved those cases three times for [Hill] … I can’t believe she would accuse me of doing that. I have nothing to hide.”

Saunders counters, saying he believes that Hill is “looking for money,” and “that whiskey’s real value is about $10 a bottle and she hired someone to inflate the price.”