(Wine-Searcher) - Indictments over thefts of more than $100,000 worth of whiskey.

The mystery surrounding a series of high-profile bourbon thefts appears to be solved after the arrest and indictment of nine people in Franklin County, Kentucky.

Sheriff Pat Melton told reporters this week that he was relieved that the investigation was over. The series of thefts from Bourbon distilleries – amounting to more than $100,000 worth of whiskey – dates back to January 2008. The thefts included 20 cases of Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Old from the Buffalo Trace distillery, one of Kentucky's most rare and expensive bourbons.

The nine people indicted by a grand jury include a Wild Turkey employee and two employees of Buffalo Trace Distillery, according to Melton.

Assistant Franklin County prosecutor Zachary M. Becker and Melton said former Buffalo Trace employee Gilbert Curtsinger, the man arrested in March in connection with the theft of whiskey from the Wild Turkey distillery, appeared to be the ringleader. Becker said the others – Julie Curtsinger, Mark Searcy, Ronnie Lee Hubbard, Dusty Adkins, Christopher Preston, Joshua Preston, Robert McKinney, and Shawn Ballard – did what Curtsinger told them.

When Curtsinger was arrested, detectives seized five barrels of Bourbon, 25 firearms, thousands of dollars of cash and illegal steroids.

The indictment says the defendants took part in a criminal syndicate between January 2008 and April 2015, and they collaborated to promote or engage in the theft of property from Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey distilleries. The theft included large amounts of another brand, Eagle Rare Bourbon, authorities said.