ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis police arrested two serial burglars for stealing from multiple Ulta Beauty stores in the St. Louis County area.
Demetrius Owens, 18, and Ryan Jones, 37, were charged with three counts of second-degree burglary, one count of stealing over $25,000, one count of stealing over $750 and three counts of second-degree property damage.
Owens and Jones are each being held on a $50,000, cash-only bond.
Jones was arrested on Feb. 10 and Owens was arrested on Feb. 26.
According to the probable cause statement, the first burglary took place on November 24, 2020, at Ulta Beauty on 12567 Olive Boulevard. When officers arrived, the front door window was completely shattered and $19,125.50 worth of perfumes and colognes were missing from the store. Video surveillance footage showed two suspects entering the store and removing the missing items.
Four days later, Officers responded to a call from Ulta Beauty on 189 Gravois Bluffs Plaza Drive. Again, the front door window was shattered. It was later determined that $34,087 worth of merchandise was taken from the store. The witness stated that he observed two suspects arrive and leave in a black vehicle. Video surveillance footage showed two suspects, wearing similar clothing from the previous burglary, and removing the missing items. Video surveillance footage showed Demetrius Owens and Ryan Jones inside of the store during business hours on November 27, 2020.
One week later, officers responded to a burglary call from Ulta Beauty on 4120 Elm Park Drive.
They found the front door window shattered and video surveillance footage showed two suspects, wearing similar clothing from the previous burglaries.
Officers were later notified by an Ulta employee and a Postal Inspector of postings by a friend of Owens and Jones showing large amounts of perfume and cologne inside of Owens’ and Jones’ residence. Officers obtained a search warrant for Owens’ and Jones’ residence, located at 1921 McLaran Avenue. Inside the residence, Officers found clothes matching what the two suspects were wearing in the surveillance footage and a lot of the merchandise that was stolen from the two stores.
Detectives from the St. Louis County Police Department’s Burglary Unit are leading the investigation.
