Palmdale Ulta Theft Suspect Fled in Uber After $2,600 Grab, Deputies Say

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.

Fragrance products are reportedly Ulta Beauty's most-stolen merchandise category, which has pushed the retailer to add floor staffing while still barring employees from physically confronting or detaining suspects who flee, per industry reporting from Hype Hair. That policy appears consistent with what happened at the Palmdale store, where workers followed the suspect and documented the incident with photos rather than intervening directly.

Part of a Larger Statewide Crackdown

The case adds to a growing pile of retail theft enforcement activity across California. State-funded initiatives, including operations by the California Highway Patrol's Organized Retail Crime Task Force, generated 29,060 arrests and recovered $226 million in stolen merchandise statewide between late 2023 and early 2026, according to the Office of the Governor of California. In one comparable case in March, the CHP task force recovered 141 stolen Ulta Beauty items valued at $7,791 during a single traffic stop in Southern California, the governor's office noted.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department created its own specialized Organized Retail Crime Task Force in September 2023, giving station-level detectives like those in Palmdale backup from a dedicated Major Crimes Bureau team that coordinates with LAPD, CHP, and the District Attorney's office. That prosecutorial pipeline has produced results in the past: the LA County DA's office filed more than 1,500 organized retail theft charges between 2019 and mid-2024, with an 89 percent conviction rate in retail crime cases prosecuted in 2024.

How to Help Identify the Suspect

Detective Gorrindo of the Palmdale Sheriff Station Detective Bureau is the point of contact for anyone with information, reachable at (661) 272-2630 or by email at [email protected]. The detective bureau is located at 750 E Avenue Q in Palmdale. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can submit tips through the P3 Tips mobile app or at lacrimestoppers.org, or by calling Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).

It remains unclear whether the suspect was acting alone or as part of a larger fencing operation, and whether any data from the aborted Uber ride has helped detectives narrow down a suspect. The bulletin, numbered 65 and dated August 27, was created by the Palmdale Station's PLM/CAU unit as part of the ongoing investigation.