Crime ring accused in Bay Area store thefts
An alleged San Diego crime ring selling stolen goods online stretched into Northern California, where suspected thieves targeted beauty supply stores in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa and Marin counties.
Michelle Mack, her husband and eight accomplices are accused of organized retail theft for conspiring to steal and resell an estimated $8 million worth of beauty products from Ulta Beauty and Sephora, the California Attorney General’s Office said.
Ulta Beauty stores across the Bay Area were targeted, according to a criminal complaint filed in San Diego County, with thieves allegedly carrying out “crime sprees” to steal thousands of dollars worth of cosmetics from each store.
Mack, the suspected “ringleader,” allegedly paid the accomplices to steal the cosmetics that she later sold at a discount on her Amazon storefront, prosecutors said.
Local news organizations in San Diego reported this week that Mack, dressed in pink pajamas, was handcuffed and escorted into a police squad car from the San Diego-area mansion she shared with her husband, Kenneth Mack, who was also arrested.
“Organized retail crime has significant financial and safety implications for businesses, retailers, and consumers,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta, who called the allegations “an audacious instance of organized retail theft.”
Police who searched Mack’s San Diego mansion found at least $400,000 worth of makeup still in its manufacturer packaging that had been stored, organized and prepared for shipping to Amazon customers, prosecutors said. Ulta and Sephora employees helped police inventory the products recovered in the search.
The suspects accused of carrying out the thefts from December 2021 to October 2023 were allegedly captured in surveillance footage, prosecutors said.
They later shipped the stolen makeup to Mack’s home, prosecutors allege.
Mack allegedly sold the stolen goods on her online Amazon storefront for a “fraction of the retail price,” prosecutors said, and “recruited many young women to enter makeup stores and commit bulk thefts of specific high-demand makeup product to supply her with inventory for her online store.”
Dan Petrousek, senior vice president of loss prevention at Ulta Beauty, said in a statement that organized retail crime affects “all retailers, consumers, and communities.”
“Not only does organized retail crime jeopardize the safety of our store associates and guests, but it also results in potentially unsafe or damaged products being resold online to consumers under false pretenses,” Petrousek said.