Three East Coast women are being held in the Macomb County Jail after they were accused of stealing $6,000 in beauty products from a Shelby Township store, police said Tuesday.
Investigators say in all, the trio is suspected of shoplifting more than $250,000 worth of merchandise from Ulta Beauty stores in southeast Michigan.
Brenda Ampudia-Tocto, 28, of New York, along with Nayely De Los Santos-Arana, 32, and Evelyn Romero-Berrospi, 38, both of New Jersey, were arraigned last week on charges of first-degree retail fraud and organized retail.
“Let this be a reminder to criminals, if you think about committing a crime in our community, you will face the consequences,” Shelby Township Police Chief Robert Shelide said in a news release.
The episode started Jan. 10 when officers were called to an Ulta Beauty store on 26 Mile Road, west of Van Dyke Avenue, for a retail fraud report.
According to the release, the store manager said three Hispanic women entered the shop and left with $6,000 worth of inventory they did not pay for.
Shelby Township Special Investigation Unit (SIU) detectives started to check Flock cameras and were able to locate a possible vehicle involved. The cameras showed the same vehicle was seen in other jurisdictions near Ulta Beauty stores.
A recent Flock match showed the possible suspect vehicle near Toledo, Ohio. Shelby Township detectives contacted authorities there and provided a description of the vehicle and suspects.
Local officers from Ohio, assisted by Shelby Township police, were able to locate and detain the three suspects. The officers in Ohio also found more stolen merchandise in the women’s vehicle.
Further investigation showed the trio was also responsible for retail fraud from Ulta stores on Hall Road in Shelby Township, Troy, Lapeer and Toledo. Detectives are still working to see if other Ulta Beauty stores may have been victimized.
All three females were extradited back to Michigan and charged. They were arraigned in 41A District Court before Magistrate James Verlpoeg, who set bond at $25,000 each.
A probable cause conference was scheduled for Thursday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were contacted and a detainer was placed on the trio. Randall Goodman, an attorney for one of the suspects, said he has no information on why ICE agents were notified.
However, police Sgt. Kevin Bailey said the department does have information indicating the women are in the United States illegally.