The mastermind of an organized retail theft ring — dubbed “California Girls” — that targeted high-end makeup firms Ulta Beauty and Sephora was sentenced to more than five years in prison and fined $3 million, according to court documents.
Michelle Mack, 53, a married mother of three young girls, was arrested with her husband Kenneth, 60, last December in their 4,500 square-foot, $2.75 million mansion in Bonsall, outside of San Diego, which has a vineyard and a chapel that the couple rented out as a wedding venue on AirBnb, according to an NBC report.
Law enforcement found more than $300,000 worth of stolen goods at their home, according to prosecutors – a fraction of the estimated $8 million the duo stole since 2012.
The couple pleaded guilty last month and her husband was jailed.
Michelle Mack was sentenced to five years and four months in San Diego County Superior Court on Thursday,
Her husband got the same sentence but will serve one year behind bars and the rest on probation so he could care for their children.
Michelle Mack will go to prison after his release. She has been ordered not to go near an Ulta or Sephora store.
At least nine others were charged in the elaborate scheme.
Investigators referred to the ring as the “California girls” as they hit hundreds of stores across the state – and 10 others – and resold the goods on Amazon via their “Online Makeup Store.”
Since the pandemic, organized retail theft has plagued business across the country, especially in California, where progressive laws only jail shoplifters who swipe more than $950 worth of goods.
Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell told CNBC earlier this year that the “financial impact is real” from organized retail theft.
The couple’s brazen operation included a “mini store” of beauty products, sunglasses and designer bags inside their garage where they packaged goods and shipped them off to customers.
Their scam brought in $1.89 million in 2022, according to Amazon sales records provided to investigators, CNBC reported.
The site has been shut down.
In March, the California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed 140 felony charges against Michelle Mack and her husband, including conspiracy to commit organized retail theft, grand theft and receipt of stolen property.
The Macks originally pleaded not guilty.
“This is a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme. It was complex. It was orchestrated,” Bonta said in announcing the charges. “We are not talking about garden-variety shoplifting.”
The crime ring was busted in part because of incriminating texts between the couple and their team of shoplifters.
“I’m not stealing regular I’m going to start filling up my bag quick. So I want to know stuff I can grab in bulks too,” defendant Kimora Lee Gooding texted Mack on Jan. 7, 2023.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
