ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a man who stole $141,000 worth of beauty supplies from six Missouri stores to a year in prison and ordered him to pay $141,611 in restitution.
Between Nov. 19, 2020 and Jan. 25, 2021, Demetrius Owens, now 20, and another man, Ryan Jones, stole large quantities of perfume, men's fragrances, and other beauty supplies from Ulta Beauty stores in Brentwood, Columbia, Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Fenton and Washington, Owens admitted in his guilty plea to a wire fraud charge in May. The men then sold the stolen items on the black market.
The men also broke into a south St. Louis County store but didn’t take anything.
The recommended sentencing guideline for the crime was 12 to 18 months in prison.
A co-defendant, Ryan Jones, 38, is in jail in California on another charge. Leo Finerson Jr., 37, of St. Ann, was sentenced in May to 120 days behind bars after pleading guilty to a charge of misprison of a felony. Finerson posted some of the stolen items for sale on Facebook before removing the post to conceal the crime.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the following police departments investigated the case: St. Louis County, Brentwood, Chesterfield, Columbia, Washington, St. Louis Metropolitan and Fairview Heights, Illinois. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ware prosecuted the case.
Source: USAO - Missouri, Eastern
