A California woman was arrested last month, charged with being the ringleader of an organized crime ring that stole nearly $8 million in makeup and other goods from stores across the country and then resold them on an Amazon storefront.
Officers found more than $300,000 worth of products in Michelle and Kenneth Mack’s home in Bonsall when they served a search warrant on December 6, 2023, according to a complaint filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, KNSD reported.
The targets included stores in 21 counties in California alone, where the ring hit more than 230 Ulta stores.
Bonta filed 140 counts against nine defendants in the case, including 136 felony counts of grand theft, two counts of receiving stolen proeperty, one count of conspiracy, and one count of organized retail crime.
Investigators told CNBC that the 53-year-old Mack paid her accomplices’ airfare, car rentals, and other travel expesnes so they could rack up hundreds of thefts in California, Washington, Utah, Oregon,Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Mack picked the stores and the merchandise, and the women investigators came dubbed the “California Girls” would clear out entire shelves.
Mack made millions reselling the stolen goods on Amazon and lived in a multi-million dollar mansion in Bonsall, which was listed for sale in February. And she’d been selling the stolen goods from her “Online Makeup Store” on Amazon for more than a decade.
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[Featured image: Michelle Mack’s online store center at her San Diego home/California Highway Patrol]
