A California mother has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution after pleading guilty to leading a massive retail theft ring that stole beauty products from Ulta and Sephora and resold them on Amazon.
According to CNBC, Michelle Mack, 54, a “queenpin” who is married and has three children, paid $300 in restitution to Ulta, Sephora and numerous other retailers targeted by her criminal organization. He was reportedly ordered to pay $1,000.
As part of a deal Mack struck with prosecutors last year, his 4,500-square-foot mansion in Bonsall, Calif., was forfeited.
The four-bedroom, five-bathroom home sits on three acres with a vineyard, chapel and four-car garage and sold in December for $2.35 million. According to property records.
After the bank debt is paid off, any remaining funds from the sale will be used to pay compensation.
Mack and her husband Kenneth Mack, 60, will repay the remaining balance “over time,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office announced, according to CNBC.
It is unclear whether Mack had a lien on the property. She originally purchased the home in the San Diego suburb of Bonsall in 2021 for $2.29 million, according to property records.
It is also unclear how compensation will be distributed to victims. Mac's crime syndicate, known as “California Girls,” primarily targeted Ulta stores, but also stole from other retailers such as Sephora.
Ulta and Sephora did not respond to requests for comment.
Although the damages may seem small compared to Ulta's net profits, $807.8 million in first 9 months Compared to previous retail theft cases in 2024, the amount is huge.
David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, told CNBC that it was only recently that compensation to retailers began to reach into the millions of dollars.
“The level of theft…was not as serious or as routine as we've seen in the last four years or so,” Johnston said.
“This is what you would expect if you were to bring these organized retail crime groups to justice. Sentencing and reparations are necessary.”
Still, restitution payments in complex retail theft criminal organizations rarely make up for the total losses incurred.
Last year, Ms. Bonta's office charged Ms. Mack and her husband with felonies after law enforcement discovered $300,000 worth of stolen property in their home, which prosecutors said was filed in 2012. That's just a fraction of the estimated $8 million the couple has stolen since 2017.
The complex cosmetics theft scheme spanned at least 12 states, according to the report.
Mack was not charged with stealing the beauty products herself, but rather recruited a group of young women to steal the products so they could resell them at a cheaper price on Amazon's shelves.
Last summer, she was sentenced to five years and four months in state prison, but the sentence was postponed until Jan. 9 because the couple has a young child. Kenneth was also sentenced to five years and four months.
During that time, Mack was ordered to stay away from Ulta and Sephora stores, officials said.
At least nine people have been charged in connection with a criminal ring that robbed hundreds of stores in California and 10 other states.
