LYNNWOOD — Local police arrested a woman Thursday suspected of robbing Ulta Beauty stores in Washington and Oregon, causing $450,000 in damages and lost merchandise.
The Lynnwood woman, 26, robbed beauty store locations while armed with pepper spray along with another accomplice, according to police reports. The two suspects would typically walk in during store hours, smash glass displays and steal thousands of dollars in products.
During the investigation, detectives learned the suspect was “continuously and relentlessly targeting Ulta stores all over Washington and into Oregon,” Lynnwood officer Brady Galloway wrote in a police report.
On Thursday, Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies arrested the woman for investigation of theft, robbery, malicious mischief and organized retail theft.
In a statement Friday, Lynnwood police said they expect to make more arrests in connection to the string of robberies.
On Nov. 18, security footage reportedly caught two women entering the Ulta Beauty at 19401 Alderwood Parkway. They destroyed the glass display cases in the fragrance section, Galloway wrote. One of the suspects pointed a can of bear mace at employees, threatening to spray them if they did not back up, according to police.
The two suspects stole $5,489 in beauty products that day at the Alderwood location, police said.
Earlier that day, two women wearing the same clothes committed a similar theft at an Ulta Beauty in Renton, Galloway wrote. The duo were accused of stealing an estimated $5,503 in fragrances.
The two women are also suspected in other Ulta Beauty robberies in Lake Stevens and Federal Way earlier this week, according to a police report. The suspects were “easily identifiable” on security footage, Galloway wrote.
Around 6 p.m. Dec. 9, the suspects broke into the store on Highway 9, threatened employees with pepper spray and stole approximately $3,800 in merchandise, a police report read. They fled the scene in a 2023 Buick Envision. Investigators later saw the car on I-5, but lost it shortly after.
During an interview with police, the suspect reported she was a “heavy drug user” and did not remember many of the thefts, Galloway wrote.
She had four active warrants, three of which were related to organized retail theft and robbery.
An Ulta spokesperson told officers the woman was not a “typical shoplifter.”
“She does not just fill the bag and run out of the store,” Galloway wrote. “She employs violence and intimidation while shattering glass, destroying fixtures, and threatening staff and customers.”
The suspect remained in the Snohomish County Jail this week, with bail set at $195,000.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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