- A 54-year-old Michelle Mack has been sentenced to five years in prison for leading an organized retail crime ring targeting Ulta and Sephora Beauty products. She allegedly hired several women to steal beauty products, which she then sold on Amazon .
While crime has generally been trending downward to pre-2019 levels, one type has unfortunately bucked the trend: retail theft. During the first half of 2024, shoplifting was up 24% over the same time period as 2023, according to the Council on Criminal Justice .
One extreme case was a shoplifting scheme in which a 54-year-old woman organized a retail crime ring across 21 California counties. On Friday, the ringleader, Michelle Mack, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for her involvement in an estimated $8 million worth of stolen beauty products, according to the California Department of Justice .
Mack and her husband, Kenneth, allegedly recruited several young women to steal high-demand makeup products from Ulta and Sephora , which she would then sell on her Amazon storefront for a fraction of the retail price. The theft suspects were caught on surveillance cameras, according to the California DOJ. A search of Mack’s “multi-million dollar” home in Bonsall, Calif., revealed large amounts of makeup product stored, organized, and prepped for shipping…