Four women are facing a slew of charges after police say thousands of cosmetic items were stolen from Walgreens and CVS stores throughout Miami-Dade.
Three of the women, 27-year-old Crystal Pereda, her sister, 21-year-old Jazmin Pereda and 33-year-old Jennifer Tejeda, were arrested on multiple grand theft charges last week, Miami-Dade Police said.
According to police, the women are responsible for at least 32 thefts at Walgreens and CVS stores. Tejeda and the Pereda sisters would enter the stores and stuff their purses with various women's cosmetic items, police said.
Police said a fourth woman, Ihosvania Guerra-Ferrerio, was purchasing the stolen cosmetics and serving as a fencing operation. When police executed a search warrant at her home, they found a total of 6,982 cosmetic items valued at $69,368.63, officials said.
Guerra-Ferrerio was arrested and charged with dealing in stolen property.
At a news conference Thursday, police showed off the stolen products, which include concealer, powder, nail polish and other items.
"You have to imagine that they are walking into the stores and they're stealing something. They're getting it for free. So their margin, their profit margin is 100 percent, they're making just pure profit on this so they're going in there selling this to fencing operations," Miami-Dade Police Sgt. Carlos Rosario said. "This is an organized ring, have no question about it. This is a money-making machine."
Beauty store bandits! 4 women arrested for allegedly stealing this load of makeup worth nearly $70,000. @nbc6 https://t.co/7cBeCGclaZ pic.twitter.com/AFxCMLH2y6
— Amanda Plasencia (@AmandaNBC6) August 3, 2017
