Yo, this is wild. First of all, we’ve seen so many images of smash-n-grab crimes in various cities across the nation. When we see these videos, there are generally Black folks running like wild animals in malls and stores, stealing like complete hooligans. So, now we know how this has really been playing out from these faux gangs to THE QUEENPIN.
Picture this: A suburban mom from California Michelle Mack (what a PERFECT NAME FOR A CRIMINAL), living in a lavish $2.75 million mansion, gets busted for orchestrating a mega-sophisticated theft ring, dubbed “California Girls.” The ring of crooks made off with nearly $8 million in makeup. You can’t make this up. We’re talking stores like Ulta, T.J. Maxx and Walgreens getting hit. It’s a big deal, but let me get back on my soap box for a second.
My headline is so crazy, because I have seen a bevy of bulls### in mainstream publications and they are leading with this “suburban mom” angle. No, that chick is a serious criminal and if she was a different hue, the reporting would be totally different. On top of that, I bet the arrest would have played out differently, too. Back to the story…
Mack ran a massive ring of others that she recruited, according to reports. She allegedly had a squad of up to 12 women jet-setting across the U.S., stealing beauty products so they could sell them on Amazon for cheap, which sounds extraordinarily dumb. By the way, they weren’t just hitting up California—they were allegedly getting busy in Texas, Florida, Massachusetts and more.
All of these scores, which includes other retailers, amounts to a billion in losses. But, everybody knows you can’t run these types of operations without the law catching up to you eventually. And they got her good. She had all this product in her garage—not a storage locker, not a stash spot and definitely not at one of her flunkies. She had it all in her own house. Also, they have texts of her admitting to stealing.
She is the queen, but there’s a king, too. Her husband was in on it as well. All of them are staring at 140 felony charges. Nobody has started snitching yet, but I think it is only a matter of time. For now, they’re all pleading not guilty, but the evidence is stacking up like a Black Friday sale. Amazon seems to be on the lookout too, because this is a huge deal.
I’m very interested in seeing how they are treated throughout this process. I suspect they are going to do the right thing. But imagine how many times this chick and her husband went to the store and walked around without security following them.
Imagine that.