An accused serial shoplifter is behind bars following a year’s long investigation.
Lynnwood police said they and the Snohomish County Violent Offender Task Force arrested a woman who allegedly terrorized Ulta Beauty stores spanning the Pacific Northwest.
Investigators said the 26-year-old woman allegedly cost the company about half a million dollars in damages and stolen merchandise. One Lynnwood Ulta employee told KIRO 7 off-camera that the suspect was notorious for going into stores and tearing up displays.
“This female has been wanted in connection with these sorts of crimes in Ulta stores from Oregon to Washington state,” said Maren McKay, Lynnwood Police Department’s Public Affairs Manager.
Investigators have been trying to track the suspect down since June 2022. McKay said the woman was arrested in South King County on Thursday.
“She’s incurred about $450,000 worth of losses for Ulta,” said McKay. “She usually destroys some of the merchandise and the components that are there in the store like the displays, I know she’s also brought bear spray with her as well as kind of an intimidation tactic.”
LPD released security footage of the woman destroying a perfume display inside an Ulta. They didn’t say which location the footage came from, but in it, the woman is seen reaching for what investigators say is bear spray when someone tried to intervene in the destruction.
