California mother behind criminal Ulta retail theft ring ordered to pay $3 million in restitution

The California mother who pleaded guilty to leading a vast ring that stole beauty products from Ulta and Sephora and resold them on Amazon has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution.

Michelle Mack, 54, a married mother of three, was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution to Ulta, Sephora and a number of other retailers targeted by her criminal network, according to CNBC.

As part of a deal Mack struck with prosecutors last year, she lost her 4,500-square-foot mansion in Bonsall, California.

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom home sat on a three-acre property with a vineyard, chapel and four-car garage, and was sold in December for $2.35 million, according to property records.

The funds remaining from the sale, once the bank debts have been settled, will be used to pay the restitution.

Mack and her husband, Kenneth Mack, 60, will repay the remaining balance “over time,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said, according to CNBC.

It is unclear whether Mack had a mortgage on the property. She originally purchased the home in Bonsall, outside San Diego, for $2.29 million in 2021, according to real estate records.

It is also unclear how the restitution will be distributed among the victims. While Mack’s crime ring — nicknamed the “California Girls” — primarily targeted Ulta stores, they also stole from other retailers, like Sephora.

Ulta and Sephora did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the restitution may seem small compared to Ulta’s net profit – $807.8 million through the first nine months of 2024 – it is a considerable amount compared to previous retail theft cases.

David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, told CNBC that restitutions to retailers have only recently started reaching millions.

“The level of theft … hasn’t been as significant and as prevalent as we’ve seen over the last four years, you know,” Johnston said.

“That’s what we would expect when we start moving these retail organized crime groups through the justice process. It is a significant loss, a complex organization, which involves a certain number of individuals, then convictions and restitution commensurate with the crime.

Yet restitution payments in complex retail theft criminal networks rarely compensate for the full extent of losses incurred.

Last year, Bonta’s office charged Mack and her husband with felony charges after law enforcement found more than $300,000 in stolen property from their home — a fraction of the estimated $8 million the couple has stolen since 2012, according to prosecutors.

The complex cosmetic theft scheme spanned at least a dozen states, according to the report.

Mack was not accused of stealing the beauty products herself, but rather of recruiting a group of young women to collect them so she could resell them cheaply in her Amazon storefront.

Last summer, she was sentenced to five years and four months in state prison, although her sentence was delayed until Jan. 9 because the couple has young children. Kenneth was also sentenced to five years and four months.

In the meantime, Mack was ordered to stay away from Ulta or Sephora stores, officials said.

At least nine other people have been charged in connection with the criminal ring, which affected hundreds of stores in California and 10 other states.