The Bonsall home on the market is spectacular, boasting four bedrooms, five baths, a sparkling pool and a wine cellar. The expansive grounds include a casita, a chapel, stone bridges and a vineyard.
There’s also a four-car garage. And that’s where authorities found thousands of stolen beauty products when they raided the place last December, turning up $300,000 worth of makeup and other goods — one agent called it a “mini store” — that prosecutors said were being fenced online.
The residents at the time were a wife-and-husband duo who are now trading a wine cellar for a cell. Authorities said Michelle and Kenneth Mack were behind a multimillion-dollar theft ring targeting makeup stores such as Ulta Beauty and Sephora. The goods were sold on Amazon under a storefront named Online Makeup Store, authorities said. Items went for perhaps half the retail price.
Officials said the thefts spanned 21 counties from San Diego to Sonoma dating back to December 2021, and losses to the retailers neared $8 million.
In February, the state Attorney General’s Office announced charges against the Macks. Women who were allegedly recruited to steal the items were also charged.
“It was complex, it was orchestrated, it was organized, and in response it deserves, it requires, an organized response — which is exactly what you’re seeing up here,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference at the time.
In June, the Macks pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to three counts each — conspiracy, organized retail theft and receiving stolen property — in exchange for a sentence of five years, four months for each.
Kenneth Mack, 59, was sentenced earlier this month to that term. He will serve the first year of his sentence in jail, although under local jail rules he is eligible for release from custody after serving half that time. The remainder of his sentence will be served on probation with community service.
Online jail records indicate he will be released from custody in mid-December. Michelle Mack, who turned 44 last week, will be sentenced a few weeks later, on Jan. 9, and is looking at state prison, not jail. Attorneys for the pair did not respond to requests for comment.
The Macks, who are parents, are also losing the home. The court agreed it could be sold to help cover the $3 million the couple has agreed to pay Ulta and Sephora as part of the plea deal. Funds seized from their banks will also go toward the restitution.
The 4,500-square-foot, two-story house was already on the market. The couple put it up for sale two months after the raid, but just a few days before the Attorney General’s Office announced formal charges in mid-February.
At that time, the couple listed it for $3.2 million. The price has since dropped. As of Friday, it was listed at $2.75 million.
A sworn affidavit in a federal search warrant sought days after the December raid lays out more about what led investigators to the couple. The break in the case came when alleged members of the ring were arrested on the East Coast. One of them indicated she was taking direction from someone in California who offered to cover travel expenses for hitting particular retail stores and stealing specific merchandise.
A number found on the phone of the alleged ring member was associated with Michelle Mack, and messages led investigators to suspect the goods were being fenced online. That eventually led them to the Online Makeup Store, which was associated with a Bonsall post office box tied to Michelle Mack. The items were sold online on the cheap. “This steep discount suggested the items were being fenced,” the affidavit reads.
Amazon sales records indicated that Online Makeup Store had sold nearly $8 million in cosmetics through the site dating back to 2012, the affidavit said. According to recent court records, sales from the site totaled about $1.4 million in 2021 and about $1.89 million in 2022.
Packages sent to the post office box were from people — including one in Pennsylvania — who had multiple theft arrests, including stealing from Ulta stores.
Searches of those parcels and other locations, including the home of another defendant in the case, turned up more than $387,000 in stolen goods.
CNBC, which followed the case, reported that investigators began referring to the theft group as the “California Girls” and considered Michelle Mack the ringleader.
One of the co-defendants was sentenced earlier this year to three years, four months in custody.
Originally Published:
