The ringleader of an organized retail theft ring known as the “California Girls,” which targeted high-end cosmetics companies Ulta Beauty and Sephora, has been sentenced to more than five years in prison and a $3 million fine, according to court documents.
Michelle Mack, 53, a married mother of three young daughters, was arrested in December with her husband, Kenneth, 60, at their 4,500-square-foot, $2.75 million mansion in the San Diego suburb of Bonsall, which includes a vineyard and a chapel that the couple rented out on Airbnb as a wedding venue, police said. NBC Report.
Prosecutors said police found more than $300,000 in stolen items in their home, but that’s only a fraction of the estimated $8 million the pair has stolen since 2012.
The couple pleaded guilty last month and the husband was jailed.
Michelle Mack was sentenced Thursday in San Diego County Superior Court to five years and four months in prison.
Her husband received the same sentence, but was sentenced to one year in prison with the rest on probation to care for their children.
Michelle Mack will serve time in jail upon her release, and she has been ordered to stay away from Ulta and Sephora stores.
At least nine people have been indicted in connection with the elaborate scheme.
Investigators are calling the crime ring “California Girls” because they raided hundreds of stores across the state and 10 other stores, then resold products on Amazon through an “online beauty store.”
Organized retail theft has plagued businesses across the U.S. since the pandemic began, especially in California, where a progressive law means shoplifters will only be sent to prison if they steal more than $950 in merchandise.
Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell told CNBC earlier this year that the “economic impacts are real” from organized retail theft.
The couple’s bold venture involved setting up a “mini-store” in their garage selling beauty products, sunglasses and designer bags, then packaging and shipping the goods to customers.
The fraudulent scheme generated $1.89 million in revenue in 2022, according to Amazon sales records provided to investigators, CNBC reported.
The site has been closed.
In March, California Attorney General Rob Bonta charged Michelle Mack and her husband with 140 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit organized retail theft, grand larceny and receiving stolen property.
The Macks initially pleaded not guilty.
“This was a multi-million dollar criminal scheme. It was complex and planned,” Bonta said in announcing the charges. “This is not your run-of-the-mill shoplifting story.”
The crime ring was busted in part thanks to incriminating text messages exchanged between the couple and a team of shoplifters.
“I don’t steal regularly and I’m going to fill up my bag soon so I’d like to know what I can steal in bulk,” defendant Kimora Lee Gooding texted Mack on Jan. 7, 2023.
