A security alarm at the Ulta store in Covington set off a chain of events on August 20 that ended with a stolen Hyundai Sonata crashing into another SUV, a hidden shotgun tucked under a discarded jacket, and one suspect changing clothes in a Fred Meyer bathroom before deputies arrested him as he walked out. Two convicted felons, 24-year-old Kane Christensen and 30-year-old Jaycob Fernandez, now face felony charges tied to the theft and the chase that followed.
Surveillance video showed Fernandez walking out of the Covington Ulta without paying for roughly $2,000 worth of merchandise, according to prosecutors cited by FOX 13 Seattle. Fernandez then got into a waiting vehicle driven by Christensen, who deputies say sped away when they tried to stop the car, passing other vehicles and cutting through turn lanes as he fled.
The pursuit vehicle, spotted by King County Sheriff's Office air support unit Guardian One as it was followed eastbound on Kent-Kangley Road, was driven recklessly through traffic before it struck the back of another SUV. Christensen then ran from the vehicle, wearing a bandana around his neck and carrying a backpack and jacket, before dropping the jacket near a parked car and doubling back toward Covington.
A Shotgun Under a Jacket, a Bathroom Change of Clothes
Deputies recovered an illegal short-barrel shotgun that had been covered by the discarded jacket, according to the same charging documents. Christensen parked himself near an AutoZone and a Jack in the Box before running toward a nearby Fred Meyer, where he entered the store and changed clothes inside a bathroom stall.
His backpack, clothing and bandana were later found in that stall. Detectives identified the fleeing man as Christensen, and deputies arrested him as he exited the bathroom. Christensen told investigators he was having trouble breathing and said he believed he had ingested cocaine or fentanyl roughly a half-hour earlier, per investigators; he was taken to a hospital and later medically cleared before being booked into jail.
Fernandez, meanwhile, was not immediately caught at the scene. Deputies later spotted the two suspects in the stolen Hyundai Sonata at a Kent gas station, per the charging documents, and Fernandez was arrested there without incident.
Charges and Criminal Histories
Prosecutors charged Christensen with organized retail theft, hit-and-run, attempting to elude police, possession of a stolen vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm. Christensen has multiple prior felony convictions and had only been out of King County jail for about a month before the Ulta theft, having spent five months in custody there before his release on July 20, 2026.
Fernandez faces a charge of second-degree organized retail theft. Under Washington's organized retail theft statute, RCW 9A.56.350, that charge — theft or possession of stolen merchandise valued between $750 and $5,000 committed with an accomplice — is a Class C felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Black & Askerov. Fernandez has prior convictions for vehicle theft, attempting to elude police, driving under the influence, hit-and-run and first-degree burglary in California, and he currently has a pending DUI case as well.
The firearm charge against Christensen is separately significant. Washington's unlawful possession statute, RCW 9.41.040, makes it a Class B felony for someone previously convicted of a serious felony to possess a firearm, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, per the same law firm's analysis.
Bail, Pleas and a Pending Court Fight
Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from the alleged Ulta theft and the pursuit that followed. Christensen is being held on $150,000 bail, while Judge Josephine Wiggs kept Fernandez's bail at $5,000 despite his attorney's request for release on personal recognizance. Fernandez's attorney attributed the theft to poverty, according to court proceedings.
Fernandez lives in Tacoma and works as a landscaper; he is also raising a daughter and has been taking online classes for underwater welding. Both men remain in jail as their cases proceed.
Why Deputies Could Chase Over a Property Crime
Washington's rules for vehicle pursuits changed in June 2024 when Initiative 2113 took effect statewide, lowering the legal threshold for police chases from probable cause tied to specific violent crimes down to reasonable suspicion that a suspect has broken any law and poses a safety threat, according to Ballotpedia's tracking of the measure. That shift is why deputies were legally able to pursue a vehicle over what began as a retail theft complaint rather than a violent offense.
Covington's Ulta Has Been Targeted Before
This is not the first time the Covington Ulta has drawn the attention of organized theft rings. In November 2025, a woman was sentenced in King County Superior Court and ordered to pay $205,571 in restitution after pleading guilty to charges stemming from 28 organized retail thefts at Ulta Beauty stores across Western Washington, including the Covington store, committed between October 2022 and December 2023, according to the Federal Way Mirror.
In July 2026, King County prosecutors also charged 29-year-old Abdullahi Abshear with first-degree organized retail theft for allegedly stealing an estimated $500,000 worth of beauty and fragrance products from regional Ulta stores, including locations in Covington, Kirkland and Federal Way, per reporting shared by Future42. That same month, prosecutors arraigned six separate defendants in a single day for organized retail theft across major retail brands, including an Ulta Beauty store in Bellevue where stolen cosmetics were allegedly being fenced at Third Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle, according to MyNorthwest.com.
A Countywide Crackdown Amid Budget Fights
The Covington case fits into a broader enforcement push. King County prosecutors filed 640 felony economic and property crime cases in 2025, the county's highest single-year total for those offenses since 2019 and up from 506 cases in 2024, according to Axios Seattle. Through June 2025 alone, the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office had filed 142 felony retail theft cases — two and a half times the average mid-year total over the preceding four years — after creating a dedicated retail crime prosecutor position, per the Snoqualmie Valley Record.
That enforcement push has run into budget resistance at the state level. In April 2026, Governor Bob Ferguson vetoed $500,000 in funding meant to extend a multi-county organized retail crime prosecution pilot program, citing statewide budget shortfalls, according to FOX 13 Seattle. The stakes are considerable: U.S. Chamber of Commerce data cited by the Washington Policy Center estimates Washington retailers lost $2.7 billion to stolen merchandise in 2021 alone, translating to roughly $603 million in lost state and local tax revenue.
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