BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A woman was charged for a string of organized retail thefts in western Washington, including Bellingham.
The Attorney General’s Organized Retail Crime Unit (ORCU) filed its second criminal prosecution Wednesday, this time against Shellonda K. Daniel of Maple Valley in King County. Daniel is accused of stealing over $200,000 in fragrances and cosmetics from 28 ULTA stores in six counties (King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom). Allegedly, she stole between $1,000 and nearly $20,000 in product from each store.
The affidavit of probable cause states that three suspects visited the ULTA location in Bellis Fair Mall on Dec. 4, 2022. In the span of less than a minute, the suspects broke into a glass fragrance counter and loaded previously concealed tote bags with merchandise, destroying the display in the process. One of the suspects now identified as Daniel was reportedly snarky with a merchandise coordinator during the visit, saying something to the effect of “it was stupid to not lock up the fragrances.”
The suspects made off with approximately $18,000 in merchandise from the Bellingham store. Daniel now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 penalty. The Attorney General will also be seeking full restitution during prosecution.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson first created the ORCU in April of last year in partnership with Washington legislature. ORCU was formed with the intention of centralizing and dedicating more resources to prosecuting this “public safety challenge” according to AG Ferguson.
