A shoplifter accused of walking out of a Palmdale Ulta Beauty with more than $2,600 in stolen merchandise back in July climbed into a waiting Uber to make a getaway, only for the driver to stop the car once things went sideways. Now Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detectives are asking the public to help put a name to the suspect’s face.
According to a Palmdale Sheriff’s Station bulletin, the suspect entered the Ulta Beauty at 39246 10th Street West on July 29 and selected over $2,600 worth of items, concealing the merchandise inside a tote bag before walking out without paying. Store employees noticed what was happening, followed the suspect outside, and took photographs as the person fled south and out of view, per the bulletin.
The Aborted Uber Escape
The suspect initially climbed into a waiting Uber vehicle to leave the scene, but the driver stopped the car once the situation became apparent, and the suspect exited before continuing on foot, the bulletin states. The incident has been classified as grand theft under Penal Code 487(a), a charge Sheriff Robert G. Luna’s department is pursuing as detectives from the Palmdale Sheriff Station Detective Unit continue searching for the suspect’s identity.
Under California law, grand theft applies when stolen property exceeds $950 in value, a threshold the alleged $2,600 haul clears easily, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. The charge is what’s known as a wobbler, meaning prosecutors can pursue it as either a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail or a felony carrying up to three years in prison. Since California voters passed Proposition 36 in November 2024, prosecutors have also gained the ability to file felony charges against repeat theft offenders under Penal Code section 666.1 regardless of a single incident’s dollar value, and to aggregate the value of multiple thefts to hit the $950 grand theft mark, according to the California Policy Lab.
Not the First Time This Store Has Been Hit
This isn’t the Palmdale Ulta’s first brush with organized theft. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced felony charges in May 2025 against a theft ring accused of stealing more than $1 million in merchandise from Ulta locations in Palmdale, Lancaster, and Calabasas, according to the County of Los Angeles. Just last two months ago, deputies from the same Palmdale Sheriff’s Station executed a search warrant in Lancaster and recovered thousands of dollars in stolen goods from Ulta, Macy’s, Marshalls, and T.J. Maxx, as Hoodline previously reported…