Thief hit the same store four times in Pierce County and stole $6,000 worth of perfume, police say

October 25 – Update: According to Gig Harbor Police reports received by The News Tribune on October 24, an Ulta Beauty employee told officers responding to the fifth shoplifting incident that she believed the suspect was the same as the one involved in the first incident on September 30, but different from the suspect on October 1. He used a backpack that appeared to be the same one used by one of the suspects in the Oct. 5 case, the report said.

The police report also said that when police received an itemized list of stolen property from the fifth incident, the total came to $2,398.

Original post: Ulta Beauty lost thousands of dollars worth of perfume in recent weeks in five potentially related shoplifting incidents, Gig Harbor police say.

The same man allegedly stole more than $6,000 worth of fragrance products from the store at 5500 Olympic Dr. on four separate days, according to police. in Gig Harbor.

A fifth shoplifting incident possibly involving another suspect occurred Saturday, Gig Harbor Police Lt. Fred Douglas told The News Tribune via email Monday. Because the suspect’s method of stealing the items was similar to the previous four incidents, the incident is likely related, he wrote.

The first shoplifting occurred on September 30, when a man stole about $2,000 worth of perfume, according to Douglas. It was followed by phone calls on Oct. 1, 2 and 5, and it is likely the same suspect was involved in all four cases, Douglas told The News Tribune via email on Oct. 18.

According to a Gig Harbor Police report, the second shoplifting report came in just after noon on October 1. A man grabbed several boxes of items from a display case at the front of the store and placed them in his backpack. He then walked out without paying, employees told police. They said eight boxes of Sauvage Parfum products were stolen, worth a total of $1,652.02.

The third call came in around 10:53 a.m. on Oct. 2, according to another police report. A man entered the store and stole an estimated $2,000 worth of perfume and cologne from the display case near the main entrance and stuffed them into his backpack, the sales manager told police. The sales manager identified him as the same man from the previous day.

According to another police report, a fourth call came in on October 5 around 8:13 p.m. The sales manager told the officer that two men had entered the store a few minutes earlier, and another employee said she could tell from their clothing that at least one of them was the suspect who had stolen items in previous shoplifting incidents. The staff members told officers that the suspects had gone to the scent room and placed unsecured scent bottles in their backpacks. The sales manager estimated the total value of the stolen items to be at least $1,000.

Douglas told The News Tribune via email Monday that a man, possibly different from the one in the previous four incidents, stole an estimated $700 to $800 worth of items from Ulta on Oct. 19. It was “basically the exact same scenario he came in.” and put items in a backpack,” Douglas wrote.

Douglas told The News Tribune they have not yet confirmed or located a suspect.

“We are actively investigating these cases and conducting a number of additional proactive patrols to deter these thefts,” he wrote.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information from Gig Harbor Police about a fifth shoplifting incident.

This story was originally published on October 21, 2024, 12:58 p.m.