A San Diego County woman is being charged with allegedly orchestrating a multimillion-dollar retail crime ring that stole and resold more than $8 million in beauty products across the country, state officials announced Friday.
The investigation began with more than 230 reported thefts at Ulta Beauty stores across Southern California, officials said. Investigators determined the woman had recruited a team of thieves — many who were young women — to loot Ulta and other retail locations so she could fence the stolen merchandise on her Amazon storefront for cheap, according to state officials. She then paid her accomplices with a slice of the profits, officials said.
The operation allegedly went on for years.
Investigators ultimately filed more than 140 felony charges, including organized retail theft, conspiracy and 136 counts of grand theft against nine defendants linked to the operation. Officials didn’t say when the charges were filed, and none of the suspects were named, including the accused ringleader. It’s unclear if anyone was arrested. The Attorney General’s Office did not respond when asked for details or provide a copy of the criminal complaint.
At a news conference on the charges at the California Highway Patrol station in Serra Mesa, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said although the actions of the woman and her co-conspirators were egregious, these kinds of operations aren’t unique or isolated.
“Organized retail crime has significant financial and safety implications for businesses, retailers, and consumers,” Bonta said in a statement. “Today, we are addressing an audacious instance of organized retail theft and making it clear that such criminal activity will not be accepted in California.”
State officials said the woman’s scheme targeted two of the nation’s most popular beauty store chains — Sephora and Ulta — but that other retail locations, including Sunglass Hut, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret, were hit. The operation resulted in bulk thefts — some of which were caught on surveillance video. Once the thefts were completed, the items would either be mailed or brought to the woman’s P.O. box or home where she prepared them for resale in her Amazon Marketplace store called Online Makeup Store, officials said.
Investigators later raided the woman’s residence and found $400,000 worth of make-up products stored, organized and prepped for shipping, officials said. The operation involved crimes that were committed across the country, including in San Diego County and 20 other California counties.
“It was complex, it was orchestrated, it was organized, and in response it deserves, it requires, an organized response — which is exactly what you’re seeing up here,” Bonta said at Friday’s news conference.
Federal search warrants executed in connection with 11 packages sent to an address connected with Online Makeup Store appear to reveal more about the operation.
The warrants filed in San Diego federal court indicate authorities were led to the ringleader of the enterprise after two women were arrested in connection with a series of retail thefts on the East Coast. One of the women told investigators someone in California, communicating via Facebook, had offered to pay the pair’s airfare, rent their vehicles and cover other travel expenses if the women agreed to hit a list of retail stories for specific merchandise.
Investigators later obtained a warrant to search one of the women’s phones, where they found similar messages in the application WhatsApp. One of the numbers led them to a woman who lived in the San Diego County community of Bonsall.
In the messages, the Bonsall woman provided lists of items to steal, the quantity she needed and how much she would pay, the search warrants revealed. The conversations led investigators to suspect the woman was using a digital platform to sell her wares, and clues including a P.O. box associated with the Online Makeup Store and searches for some of the items the woman had requested stolen led them to her Amazon storefront.
“The items listed for sale were nearly fifty percent off the actual retail price, which was included in the sales listing,” the search warrants, filed by an agent with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, read. “This steep discount suggested the items were being fenced.”
Online sales records indicted the woman had sold nearly $8 million in beauty products through the site, according to the warrants.
Using records maintained by Amazon, officers identified two addresses associated with the business — the P.O. box and the woman’s home. Investigators were able to view pictures of packages that were dropped off at a U.S. Postal Service Office and later delivered to the two addresses. Using law enforcement databases, some of the sender names were linked to people tied to retail thefts at Ulta. Investigators later raided the woman’s Bonsall home and found a “mini store” in her garage.
Arrest records indicate the woman named in the warrant was arrested in December, but she no longer appears to be in custody.
The Union-Tribune reached the woman by phone Friday afternoon, and she referred calls to her attorney, who did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Bonta thanked a number of agencies for their work on the investigation, including the state’s Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and representatives with Ulta and Sephora.
Staff writers Teri Figueroa and Alex Riggins contributed to this story.
